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STUART S PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON 
































Illustrations. 


7 


The Moore House ........ 222 

1 Lord Cornwallis.225 

Surrender of the British Standards at Yorktown . . 229 

De Lauzun. 231 


Old Liberty Bell .... 
Death of Scammell 
Place where Scammell was killed . 
Benjamin Franklin .... 
Washington resigns his Commission 
Washington parting with his Officers 


Certificate.265 

First Prayer in Congress.277 

Reception of President Washington at New York. 285 

The Inauguration of Washington.289 

Arch erected in Boston at Washington’s Reception . 303 

Washington and the Boys.307 

M. Washington.310 

Washington on his Plantation . . . . . 321 

Washington reading a Despatch.327 

Fireplace, Washington’s Room.330 

Capitol at Washington. . 349 

Washington Tomb — Mt. Vernon ..... 363 

Death of Washington.373 


233 

237 

240 

247 

25 1 

257 


















•' 



































































» 











» 


CONTENTS. 


Chap. 


Page. 

I. 

Washington’s Birth and Ancestry . 

9 

II. 

Washington’s Childhood 

16 

III. 

Washington’s Boyhood . . 

24 

IV. 

Washington’s Boyhood continued . 

2 9 

V. 

Washington as Surveyor. 

41 

VI. 

New Duties ..... 

49 

VII. 

Embassy to the French Commandant 

53 

VIII. 

General Braddock’s Defeat, and other 



Frontier Skirmishes. 

68 

IX. 

Washington’s Courtship and Mar¬ 



riage ..... 

83 

X. 

Life at Mount Vernon 

95 

XI. 

Causes of the Revolutionary War . 

104 

XII. 

The War begins, and Washington is 



elected Commander-in-chief 

Ix 5 

XIII. 

Washington takes Command of the 



Army ..... 

127 

XIV. 

Siege of Boston .... 

*37 

XV. 

Declaration of Independence. 

147 

XVI. 

Arrival of Lafayette and Surrender 



of Burgoyne .... 

x 73 



IO 


Contents. 


XVII. 

Count D’Estaing, and the Campaign 



of 1778--79 .... 

189 

XVIII. 

The Treason of Benedict Arnold . 

207 

XIX. 

The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis 

219 

XX. 

Incidents of the Siege at Yorktown 

236 

XXI. 

After the Surrender 

244 

XXII. 

Washington resigns the Command of 



the Army .... 

254 

XXIII. 

Return to Mount Vernon 

261 

XXIV. 

The Philadelphia Convention . 

272 

XXV. 

Washington is elected President of 



the United States . 

281 

XXVI. 

Difficulties of the President’s Posi¬ 



tion ...... 

292 

XXVII. 

Tour through the Eastern States 

297 

XXVIII. 

The President’s Life at the Capitol 

312 

XXIX. 

Difficulties with the Cabinet, and 



Troubles with the Indians 

322 

XXX. 

Extracts from Diary — Washington 



re-elected to second Term 

33i 

XXXI. 

Changes in the Cabinet — Washing¬ 



ton refuses a third Re-election 

340 

XXXII. 

Washington returns to Mount Ver¬ 



non ...... 

346 

XXXIII. 

Last Days of Washington — his 



Death and Burial . 

365 


YOUNG FOLKS’ 


LIFE OF WASHINGTON, 


CHAPTER I. 


WASHINGTON’S BIRTH AND ANCESTRY. 

EAR the banks of the beautiful Potomac, 



-i ^ in Westmoreland County, Virginia, there 
is a quiet little spot known as Bridge’s Creek. 
It is so small a settlement it cannot be called 
a township, or even a village; and yet it will 
always be a most interesting place to visit; for 
here, upon the 22d of February, 1732 , George 
Washington was born. A few fig-trees, a jas¬ 
mine-vine, and here and there a bright red rose 
peeping out of the rough tangle of weeds, will 
show you where “ once upon a time ” there 
must have been a beautiful garden; and just 



io Young Folks Life of Washington. 

beyond you will find the remains of an old 
chimney, and a few loose bricks and pieces of 
mortar, where the rambling old farmhouse stood. 

In the year 1815 a small stone slab was 
placed here to mark the spot, by George Wash¬ 
ington Parke Custis. He brought it up the 
creek in his yacht, the Lady of the Lake , and 



fired a salute when he returned, on board with 
the few friends who had accompanied him. 

Standing on the quiet spot to-day, it is hard 
to realize the fright of the country folk all about 
Bridge s Creek, when they heard this firing. 
But those were days that tried men’s souls. 
They thought the dreaded British regulars had 
returned, and while the women and children 


Washington s Birth and Ancestry. 


i 


ran to the pine ridges for shelter, the farmers 
hastened to load their clumsy guns. 

The date, as will be noticed, was given in 
the Old Style. According to the Gregorian cal¬ 
endar, or New Style, we add eleven days, and 
celebrate the anniversary of Washington’s birth 
on the 22 d instead of the lltli of February. 

Mr. Custis himself writes thus of the simple 
ceremony : 

“We gathered together the bricks of the 
ancient chimney that once formed the hearth 
around which Washington in his infancy had 
played, and constructed a rude kind of pedestal, 
on which we reverently placed the first stone , 
commending it to the respect and protection 
of the American people in general, and the cit¬ 
izens of Westmoreland in particular.” 

This old stone slab is fast crumbling away, and 
it is almost impossible to read the inscription 
upon it. In 1880 , through the efforts of Mr. W. 
M. Evarts, then Secretary of State, thirty 
thousand dollars were appropriated by Congress 
to erect a suitable monument here. Instead of 
a shaft it has been proposed to enclose the re¬ 
mains of the chimney, now greatly exposed to 


12 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

storm and wind, in a durable structure of brick 
and sandstone, where also may be placed the 
remains from the old family vault near by. 
To prevent the depredation of relic-hunters, 
and yet to allow the view of the ruins, the 
doors and windows of the structure will be 
filled with bronze grilles only. The inscription 
on the front in bronze and brass, is in these 
words : 


GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
Hie natus , ubique notus. 


In the arch above the door is a bas-relief 
of the same material, of an eagle with the date of 
the building. With its graceful Corinthian pilas¬ 
ters and the arches of sandstone, its mosaic pave¬ 
ment below, and its roof covered with terra-cotta 
above, the building when completed will be a 
lasting and worthy memorial of the hallowed 
spot. 

The father of Washington was descended 
from a Northamptonshire family, and investiga- 




Washington s Birth and Ancestry. 13 

tions made by the Rev. J. M. Simpkinton of 
Brington, England, give conclusive evidence 


WASHINGTON HOUSE, BRINGTON. 

that an ancient structure in Brington is the 
one in which Lawrence Washington lived ; the 
father of Lawrence and John, who emigrated to 
Virginia in the year 1657. Going back a few 
hundred years, we find the name of Washington 
honorably mentioned in numerous counties in 
England. Sir Henry Washington, a nephew 
of the Duke of Buckingham, is recorded as 



14 Young Folks Life of Washington . 

governor of Worcester, and its brave defender 
during a three-months’ siege by the parliamentary 
troops under General Fairfax. Again, when 
Charles the First was Prince Royal and a suitor 
for the hand of the Infanta of Spain, a Mr. 
Thomas Washington of this same family, is men¬ 
tioned as his page. 

The two brothers who came to America were 
in reduced circumstances. They brought no 
family plate with them, and the only, relic that 
remains of these early ancestors is a small 
bronze mortar with the initials of Cimon Wash¬ 
ington, and the date 1664 upon it. This mortar 
may be seen in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. 

The coat of arms of 
the Washington family 
consists of a white or 
silver shield with two 
red bars across it. Just 
above are three mullets 
or star figures, show¬ 
ing the filial distinction 
of the third son. The 
whole combination is not unlike our national 
emblem of the Stars and Stripes. The crest is 



MORTAR. 







Washington s Birth and Ancestry. i t, 

a jet black raven perched upon a golden duca 
coronet. 

The family arms were engraved upon Wash 
ington’s ring and his two watch 
seals. One of these seals he lost 
on the battle-field of Monongahela, 
where Braddock was defeated, and 
the other was lost by his nephew 
many years after. Both, however, 
were afterwards found and restored 
to the family. 

The mother of Washington was 
a grand-daughter of Colonel Wil¬ 
liam Ball, who came from England 
about the year 1650 , and settled 
in Lancaster County, Virginia. 

In an old family Bible in Hanover County 
the following record was found : 

“George Washington, son to Augustine am 
Mary his wife, was born ye 11 th day of Febru 
ary, 1731 - 2 , about ten in the morning, an< 
was baptized the 3 d of April following; Mi 
Beverly Whiting and Captain Christopher 
Brooks godfathers, and Mrs. Mildred Gregor 
godmother.” 



COAT OF AKMH 





CHAPTER II. 


WASHINGTON’S CHILDHOOD. 

HEN Washington was between two and 



three years of age, his father moved to a 


plantation in Stafford County, on the east side of 
the Rappahannock, just opposite Fredericksburg. 

The low red house stood upon quite a hill, 
and from the doorway you could look up and 
down the river for many miles. It was a curious 
old house, with a steep roof, low, projecting 
eaves, and great chimne} r s at either end that 
were built on the outside. There were four 
rooms on the ground floor, with a long, low 
attic above, that made a fine play-room on 
rainy days for George and his three younger 
brothers. 

Like all boys, however, they thought it bet¬ 
ter fun to play out-of-doors; and in the broad 
green meadows behind the house, they delighted 


Washington s Childhood. 


17 


to pitch quoits, toss bars, and try their strength 
in leaping and wrestling. 

George was always the leader in these sports; 



EAELY RESIDENCE OF WASHINGTON. 


and there is a place still pointed out at Fred¬ 
ericksburg, near the Lower Ferry, where one day 
he flung a stone across the Rappahannock. 
The river is quite wide just here, and to throw 
a stone from one side to the other seems to 
many who have tried it, an utter impossibility. 
George, however, was unusually strong and 
muscular. He frequently outran his brothers 
in their boyish races, and, even as a baby, 
people used to wonder at his large and power¬ 
ful frame. 




i8 


Young Folks Life of Washington. 


The familiar story of the hatchet has of late 
years been the subject of considerable dispute ; 
but whether it was an actual occurrence or only 
a pretty fable, of one thing we ma}^ be very 
sure, George Washington, even as a child, was 
remarkable for his straightforward, upright 
character; and as we go on with the story of 
his life, we shall find him — 

“All life’s journey through and through, 

Speaking what is just and true, 

Doing what is right to do 
Unto one and all. ” 

That his good father tried to bring him up 
to be as unselfish as he was truthful, may be 
seen from the following story told by a cousin 
of the family who lived to be nearly a hundred 
years of age. 

“ One fine morning in autumn,” she said, 
“ when George was about five years old, his 
father took us both by the hand, and asked us 
to walk with him to the orchard. The whole 
earth as far as we could see was strewed with 
fruit; and yet the trees were bending under 
the weight of apples which hung in clusters 
like grapes. 




Washington's Childhood. 


19 


“ 6 Now, George,’ said his father, 1 look here, 
my son ! don’t you remember when this cousin 
of yours brought you that fine large apple last 
spring, how hardly I could prevail on you to 
divide with your brothers and sisters, though 
I promised you that if you would do it the 
good God would give you plenty of apples 
this fall?’ 

“ Poor George,” said the old lady, “ could not 
say a word; but, hanging down his head, looked 
quite confused, while with his little naked toes 
he scratched in the soft ground. 

“ ‘Now, look up, my son,’ continued his father; 
‘ look up, George, and see how richly the blessed 
God has made good my promise to you. Wher¬ 
ever you turn your eyes you see the trees loaded 
with fine fruit; many of them indeed break¬ 
ing down, while the ground is covered with 
mellow apples — more than you could ever eat, 
my son, in all your life-time.’ 

“ George looked in silence on the wide wil¬ 
derness of fruit; he marked the busy humming 
bees, and heard the gay notes of the birds; 
then lifting his eyes filled with shining 
moisture to his father, he softly said: 


20 


Young Folks Life of Washington. 


'“‘Well, pa, only forgive me this time; see 
if I ever be so stingy ari}^ more ! ’ ” 

There is another quaint little story about 
George and his father — the truthfulness of 
which we have no reason to doubt — that is 
told by an old clergyman of Stafford County, 
as follows : 

“One day his father went into the garden 
and prepared a bed of pulverized earth, on 
which he wrote George’s name at full in large 
letters; then strewing in plenty of cabbage 
seed, he covered them up and smoothed all 
over nicely with the roller. This bed he pur¬ 
posely prepared close alongside of a gooseberry 
walk which, happening at this time to be well- 
hung with ripe fruit, he knew would be honored 
with George’s visits pretty regularly every day. 
Not many mornings had passed away before 
the little boy came into the house with eyes 
wide-rolling, and cheeks ready to burst with 
great news. 

“ ‘ O, pa! ’ he exclaimed ; ‘ come here ! come 
here! ’ 

“ ‘ What’s the matter, my son; what’s the 
matter ? ’ 


Washington's Childhood. 


21 


“ ‘ Oh ? come here; do come here, pa, and I’ll 
show you such a sight as you never saw in all 
your life-time ! ’ 

44 The old gentleman suspecting what George 
had seen, gave him his hand, which he seized 
with great eagerness. Tugging his father along 
through the garden, he led him point-blank to 
the bed whereon was inscribed in large letters 
and in all the freshness of new spring plants, 
the full name of 

George Washington. 

44 4 There, pa ! ’ said George, quite in an ecstasy 
of astonishment, 44 did you ever see such a sight 
in all your life-time ? ’ 

44 4 Why, it seems like a curious affair, sure 
enough, George ! ’ 

44 4 But, pa, who did make it there—who did 
make it there ? ’ 

44 4 Didn’t it grow there by chance, my son ? ’ 

44 4 By chance, papa ? Oh no, no! it never 
did grow there by chance, pa! Indeed, that it 
never did! ’ 

44 4 Why not, my son ? ’ 


22 


Young Folks' Life of Washington. 


“ ‘ Why, pa, did you ever see anybody’s name 
in a plant-bed. before ? ’ 

‘“Well, but, George, don’t you think such a 
thing might happen, though you never saw it 
before ?’ 

“‘But, pa, I did never see the little plants 
grow up so as to make one single letter of my 
name before. Now, how could they grow up 
so as to make all the letters of my name — and 
then standing one after another to spell my name 
so exactly, and all so neat and even too, at 
the top and bottom! O, pa! you must not 
say chance did all this. Indeed, somebody did 
it; and I dare say now, pa, you did it just to 
scare me, because I am your little boy. ’ 

“ His father smiled and said, ‘ Well, George, 
you have guessed right. I indeed did it, but 
not to scare you, my son, but to teach you a 
great thing which I wish you to understand. 
As my son could not believe that chance had 
made and put together so exactly the letters 
of his name (though it contains but sixteen 
letters), then how can we believe that chance 
has made and put together all those millions 
and millions of things in this wonderful world 


Washington s Childhood. 


23 


of ours, that are now so exactly fitted to our 
use ; could chance ever have done it, my little 
son ? ’ ” 

With vivid lessons such as these Washing¬ 
ton’s father strove to teach him of the great, 
all-ruling Providence, “ Whom to know and love,” 
adds good Mr. Weems, “is to possess the surest 
defence against vice, and the best of all motives 
to virtue and happiness.” 


CHAPTER IIL 


Washington’s boyhood. 

HEN George was about eight years 



of age, his half-brother Lawrence re¬ 


turned from England, where he had been at 
school for a number of years. In those days it 
was a very common thing for rich planters to 
send their boys across the water to get an edu¬ 
cation. The schools in Virginia were of course 
very few and very poor, and only the younger 
children of the Washington family were sent to 
the “ old field schoolhouse,” as it was called, in 
Stafford County. The best of their education 
they received from their parents and this elder 
brother Lawrence. 

There were six boys and two girls in the 
Washington family. Augustine was next in 
age to Lawrence; then came George, Elizabeth 
— or Betty, as her brothers usually called her — 


Washington s Boyhood. 


25 


Samuel, John, Charles, and Mildred who died 
when she was but a few months old. 

One of Washington’s earliest playmates was 
Richard Henry Lee, and an interesting little 
letter is shown by descendants of the Lee family, 
written by George when about nine years of 
age, to this friend “ Dickey.” It reads as follows : 

Dear Dickey: — I thank you very much for the pretty 
picture-book you gave me. Sam asked me to show him the 
pictures, and I showed him all the pictures in it; and I read 
to him how the tame Elephant took care of the master’s little 
hoy, and put him on his back and would not let anybody touch 
his master’s little son. I can read three or four pages some¬ 
times without missing a word. Ma says I may go to see you 
and stay all day with you next week if it be not rainy. She 
says I may ride my pony Hero if uncle Ben will go with me 
and lead Hero. I have a little piece of poetry about the pict¬ 
ure book you gave me, but I mustn’t tell you who wrote the 
poetry. 

G. W’s compliments to R. H. L., 

And likes his book full well, 

Henceforth will count him his friend, 

And hopes many happy days he may spend. 

Your good friend, 

George Washington. 

I am going to get a whip-top soon, and you may see it and 
whip it. 


Lawrence Washington was about fourteen 
years older than George, and when he came 


26 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

back from England a strong friendship sprang 
up between the little boy and his tall, manly 
brother. George was then going to school with 
Betty and Samuel, to Master Hobby, who 
taught in the old field schoolhouse, and was 
also sexton of the parish. Here he learned to 
read, write and cipher, but as soon as lessons 
were over, it was his delight to play soldier 
with his schoolmates. Lawrence was soon to leave 
them for the West Indies, to serve under General 
Wentworth and Admiral Vernon. 

George had watched all the preparations with 
a deal of interest. He had asked his brother 
a great many questions, and Lawrence, full of 
ardor himself, had often taken the little fellow 
on his knee and told him exciting stories of 
soldier life in camp and battlefield. 

With kindling eye and glowing cheek George 
would listen to these tales, and then repeating 
them to his playmates, he would try to act 
them out in mimic parades and sham fights. 

The boys at Master Hobby’s school entered 
eagerly into the new sport, and made George 
their commander-in-chief. Sometimes he would 
divide them into two parties, one of which he 


Washington's Boyhood. 


27 


would call the French, and the other the Amer¬ 
ican army. A large boy named William Bustle 
used to lead the former, but George always 
took command of the latter division. With 
cornstalks for muskets and calabashes for drums, 
the two armies would turn out, march and 
countermarch, file off, and fight their make- 
believe battles with great enthusiasm. 

George was about eleven years of age when 
his first great sorrow came. He was away from 
home, visiting his cousins in Chotauk, and the 
tidings of his father’s sudden illness and death 
fell like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. 

From this time forward he shows a gravity 
and thoughtfulness far beyond his years. His 
mother, to whom the whole charge of the five 
younger children’s property had been committed, 
calls him her “ right hand man; ” and his little 
brothers and sister begin to look up to him 
as he had looked up to Lawrence. Regularly 
every morning Mrs. Washington would gather 
her fatherless flock about her and read to 
them out of her favorite volume, “ Sir Matthew 
Hale’s Contemplation; ” but to George she gave 
the volume of extracts written by her own hand. 


28 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

Each of the sons inherited from the father 
a separate plantation. To Lawrence was given 
an estate ' of twenty-five hundred acres on the 
Potomac, near Hunting Creek, and to this 
beautiful country-seat he gave the name of Mount 
Vernon , in honor of his old commander. 

On his return from the siege of Carthagena 
and cruise in the West Indies, Lawrence had 
married a daughter of William Fairfax, and 
their pleasant home on the Potomac was always 
a favorite resort of the younger children. 

Augustine’s share of the property was the 
old ho lestead at Bridge’s Creek, and soon 
after his father’s death George was sent here 
to attend a Mr. Williams’ school. It was 
of a little higher grade than Master Hobby’s, 
but no instruction was given in the languages, 
nor even in the first principles of grammar. 
Washington’s early letters were often faulty in 
construction, but by diligent practice, reading and 
study, he gradually overcame this defect. An 
accurate choice of words and a forcible ar¬ 
rangement, are especially noticeable in his later 
writings, and show how—like a true general — 
he had learned to discipline his mind. 


CHAPTER IV. 


Washington’s boyhood continued. 

W ASHINGTON’S manuscript school-books 
from the time he was thirteen years old, 
are models of neatness and precision. These, 
together with his diaries, journals, letters, and 
many other interesting papers, are carefully pre¬ 
served in the Congressional Library and in 
the archives of the State Department at Wash¬ 
ington. Through the courtesy of the Secre¬ 
tary of State, and Mr. Dwight the librarian, 
the writer enjoyed the privilege of looking 
over these voluminous manuscripts. Some of 
them are well known to the reading public, but 
throughout the present volume certain extracts 
are given that have never before been printed. 

The well-thumbed ciphering books show that 
Washington had mastered at an early age the 
difficult parts of arithmetic, and was well versed 


30 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

in geometry by the time he entered his teens. 
One of these books is ornamented with school¬ 
boy attempts at pen-and-ink drawing. Pro¬ 
files of faces — his schoolmates, evidently—and 
odd-looking birds made with numerous pen- 
flourishes, show his skill in off-hand sketches. 

One volume looks more like the work of a 
business man than that of a mere schoolboy. 
In it are copied forms for all kinds of mer¬ 
cantile and legal papers, bills of exchange, 
notes of hand, deeds, bonds, leases, wills, etc. 

Each form is written out with great care, 
and the important words are emphasized by a 
variety of large characters such as clerks are 
accustomed to use. 

It is not a little remarkable that a boy of 
only thirteen years should of his own accord 
take up so dry and uninteresting a study. It 
shows in a striking manner the practical bent 
of his mind and the early development of 
those methodical business habits for which he 
was noted in after life. When at the head of 
the army it was his custom to arrange in tables 
the names and ranks of the officers, with the 
returns of the adjutants, commissaries and quarter- 




Washington’s autographs at different periods. 












Washington s Boyhood Continued. 


33 


masters; and at the beginning of a campaign 
he would sketch on paper the line of battle, 
assigning to each officer his post, with the names 
of the regiments and strength of the forces he 
was to command. 

In the latter part of this curious manuscript 
book are thirty pages containing “ Rules of 
Behavior in Company and Conversation.” It is 
not known from what source the boy culled 
these various maxims, but it is very evident 
that they were indelibly impressed upon his 
memory, and greatly influenced his habits of 
thought and action. 

Here are a few of them : 

“Every action in company ought to be with 
some sign of respect to those present. 

“ In the presence of others sing not to your¬ 
self with humming noise, nor drum with your 
fingers or feet. 

“ Be not a flatterer, neither play with any 
one that delights not to be played with. 

“ Let your countenance be pleasant, but in 
serious matters somewhat grave. 

“ Show not yourself glad of the misfortune 
of another, though he were your enemy. 


34 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

“ Let your discourse with men of business 
be short and comprehensive. 

“ Wherein you reprove another, be unblam¬ 
able yourself: for example is more prevalent 
than precept. 

“ Let your conversation be without malice or 
env}*, for it is a sign of a tractable and com¬ 
mendable nature; and in all causes of passion, 
admit reason to govern. 

“ Be not forward, but friendly and courteous ; 
the first to salute, hear and answer; and be 
not pensive when it is time to converse. 

“Detract not from others, neither be exces¬ 
sive in commending. 

“Associate yourself with men of good quality, 
if you esteem your own reputation, for it is 
better to be alone than in bad company. 

“ In disputes, be not so desirous to overcome, 
as not to give liberty to each one to deliver his 
opinion ; and submit to the judgment of the major 
part, especially if they are judges of the dispute. 

“ Play not the peacock, looking everywhf 
about you to see if you be well-decked, if 
shoes fit well, if your stockings set neatly, 
your clothing handsomely. 


Washington s Boyhood Continued. 35 

“ Think before you speak; pronounce not im¬ 
perfectly, nor bring out your words too hastily, 
but orderly and distinctly. 

“Undertake not what you cannot perform, 
but be careful to keep your promise. 

“ Let your recreations be manful, not sinful. 

“ Labor to keep alive in your breast that 
little spark of celestial fire called Conscience.” 

These, and the remaining maxims which are 
of a similar character, are copied into the book 
in a clear, careful hand; and some distinguished 
person once made the remark, that he “could 
not help looking upon the character of Wash¬ 
ington as connected with the selection and 
adoption of these rules, and thinking they lay 
at the foundation of all.” 

Even as a schoolboy his companions looked 
up to him as a leader, and would often come 
to him to settle their disputes because they 
knew him to be so just and true. “Ask George 
Washington,” they used to say; “and what¬ 
ever he says is right we’ll agree to.” 

While attending school at Mr. Williams’, 
George spent most of his vacations with his 
brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon. There he 


36 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

met the best society in the country and a great 
many military people. 

Sometimes a ship-of-war would anchor in the 
Potomac, and its officers, always welcome guests 
at his brother’s table, would relate their ex¬ 
periences on sea and shore. George, a fine, 
manly boy of fourteen, was old enough now to 
appreciate such stories as the capture of Porto 
Bello, the bombardment of Carthagena, and 
the perilous campaigns against pirates in the 
southern seas. 

One comrade of his brother’s, Adjutant Muse 
by name, seeing the boy’s kindling ardor, gave 
him a few lessons in military tactics, and loaned 
him several books upon the evolution of troops. 

It was just about this time that his brother 
Lawrence obtained for him a midshipman’s 
warrant in the British navy, and the boy began 
to prepare for his first cruise with glad antici¬ 
pations. But just before the vessel sailed — it 
is said that his trunk of clothing had been car¬ 
ried on board — word came from his mother 
that she could not give her consent. George 
was her favorite child, and she could not bear 
the thought of parting with him — especially 



A 

BOOK of PURVEYS 


Began 


JULY 22 


J 74J 











/ / 




Washington's Boyhood Continued. 39 

for what seemed to her so dangerous a profes¬ 
sion. Like a dutiful son he immediately gave 
up the project, although it was a sore disap¬ 
pointment to him at the time. 

It is said that when he saw the flash and heard 
the signal gun for sailing, he could not help 
shedding a few tears. His mother feared he 
had regretted his decision, but in answer to her 
inquiries he quickly said : 

“ Indeed, dear mother, I should be much more 
sorry were I on board the ship and knew that 
you were unhappy.” 

“ Well,” she answered, “ God I am sure will 
reward my dear boy for this some day or other.” 

Providence had indeed better things in store 
for him, and it is interesting to trace the various 
steps by which the upright, dutiful son was 
fitted for the glorious future that awaited him. 

On his return to school he devoted himself 
to the study of geometry, trigonometry and 
surveying. Two years were thus spent most 
profitably, as future events proved, and the last 
summer he was at school he tried a little prac¬ 
tical surveying around the schoolhouse and the 
neighboring plantations. The boundaries, angles 


40 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

and measurements, the plots and all the calcu¬ 
lations of these first surveys, may still be seen 
in one of his manuscript books. 





CHAPTER V. 


WASHINGTON AS SURVEYOR. 

HILE visiting his brother Lawrence at 



Mount Vernon, George had made the 


acquaintance of Lord Fairfax, an uncle of his 
brother’s wife. This English nobleman had 
inherited a grant from the crown of an im¬ 
mense tract of land between the Potomac and 
Rappahannock rivers, which he wished to have 
surveyed. He had heard of j^oung Washington’s 
thorough knowledge of the higher mathematics 
and land measurements, and offered him the 
work, although George at this time was only 
fifteen years of age. 

In company with a nephew of Lord Fairfax 
and a small party of young men, he set out 
on this expedition early in the spring of 1747 . 
It was far from being a pleasure trip, for 
aside from the exposure and fatigue of camp- 


42 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

ing out in such a wilderness, the whole country 
was infested with treacherous Indians. 

Some idea of Washington’s life during the 
three years he was employed in making this 
survey, we gather from the entries in his jour¬ 
nal. The little horn-covered book shows the 
marks of frequent drenchings, and in some 
places the bold boyish scrawl is quite obliter¬ 
ated. One cannot turn the musty yellow pages 
without entering into hearty sympathy with the 
brave, adventurous spirit of the young surveyor. 
The journal begins as follows: 

“ Friday, March 11 th, 1747 : — Began my 

journey in company with George Fairfax, Esq., 
we travelled this day forty miles, to Mr. George 
Marvel’s in Prince William County. 

“March 12th: — Rode to his Lordship’s quarters 
some miles higher up the river. We went 
through most beautiful groves of sugar-trees, 
and spent the best part of the day in admiring 
the trees and richness of the land. 

“ March 23 d: —Rained till about two o’clock, 
and then cleared up, when we were agreeably sur¬ 
prised at the sight of more than thirty Indians, 
coming from war with only one scalp. After clear- 







WASHINGTON SURVEYING. 







































































-■* 
























‘ I 












































































































































Washington as Surveyor. 


45 


ing a large space and making a great fire in the 
middle, the men seated themselves around it, 
and the speaker made a grand speech, telling 
them in what manner they were to dance. After 
he had finished,- the best dancer jumped up, as 
one awakened from sleep, and ran and jumped 
about the ring in the most comical manner. 
He was followed by the rest. Then began their 
music, which was performed with a pot half 
full of water, and a deer-skin stretched tight 
over it, and a gourd with some shot in it to 
rattle, and a piece of horse’s tail tied to it to 
make it look fine. One person kept rattling, 
and another drumming all the while they were 
dancing. 

“April 2d: — A blowing, rainy night. Our 
straw upon which we were lying took fire, but 
I was luckily preserved by one of our men awak¬ 
ening when it was in a flame. 

“April Bd:—Last night was a much more 
blustering night than the former. We had our 
tent carried quite off with the wind, and were 
obliged to lie the latter part of the night with¬ 
out covering. There came several persons to see 
us this day. One of our men shot a wild turkey. 


46 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

“ April 4th: — This morning Mr. Fairfax left 
us with intent to go down to the mouth of the 
river. We did two lots and were attended by 
a great company of people — men, women and 
children — that attended us through the woods 
as we went, showing their antic tricks. Several 
think they seem to be as ignorant a set of 
people as the Indians. They would never speak 
English, but when spoken to they speak all 
Dutch. This day over our tent was blown 
down by the violentness of the wind. 

“ April 6th : — Last night was so intolerably 
smoky that we were obliged, all hands, to 
leave the tent to the mercy of the wind and 
tire. This day was attended by our company 
until about twelve o’clock, when we finished. 
We travelled down the Branch to Henry 
Danmetries’. On our journey were caught 
in a veiy heavy rain; we got under a straw 
house until the worst of it was over, and then 
continued our journey. 

u April 7th:—Rained successively all last 
night. This morning one of our men killed a 
wild turkey that weighed twenty pounds. We 
went to survey fifteen hundred acres of land, 


Washington as Surveyor. 47 

and returned to Danmetries’ about one o’clock. 
About two I heard that Mr. Fairfax was come 
up and at Peter Capsey’s, about two miles off 
in the same old field. I then took my horse 
and went up to see him. We ate our dinner 
and walked down to Danmetries’. We stayed 
about two hours, and walked back again and 
slept in Capsey’s house, which was the first 
night I had slept in a house since I came to 
the Branch. 

“ April 8 th: — We camped in the woods, and 
after we had pitched our tent and made a large 
fire we pulled out our knapsack to recruit our¬ 
selves. Every one was his own cook. Our spits 
were forked sticks ; our plates were large chips. 
As for dishes, we had none.” 

In addition to the surveys Washington made 
for Lord Fairfax during these three years in 
the wilds of Virginia, he received the appoint¬ 
ment of public surveyor, which gave him author¬ 
ity to enter his works in the county offices. 

The exposures and hardships of these expe¬ 
ditions were too severe to be endured for many 
weeks at a time, and as a relief he would occa¬ 
sionally come down into the settled parts of 


48 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

the State and survey private tracts and farms. 

In a letter written to a friend at this time, he 
says: — “After walking a good deal all the 
day, I have lain down before the fire on a little 
hay or a bear-skin, whichever was to be had. . 

. . I have not had my clothes off for a month, 

but have lain and slept in them, except the few 
nights we slept at Fredericksburg.” 

Washington, however, was well paid for his 
services, and he says farther on in this same 
letter: — “ Nothing would make it pass off tol¬ 
erably but a good reward. A doubloon ($7.00) 
is my constant gain every day that the weather 
will permit of my going out; sometimes six 
pistoles (about $ 21 . 00 ).” 

Besides the pecuniary profit, this business of 
surveying had the further advantage of intro¬ 
ducing Washington to the favorable notice of 
landholders and men of influence. These ac¬ 
quaintances were first his employers, then his 
friends, and afterwards his advocates, firm adher¬ 
ents, and supporters. 


CHAPTER VI. 


NEW DUTIES. 

I N the year 1751, when Washington was only 
nineteen, he was appointed one of the four 
adjutants-general of the State of Virginia. The 
frontiers were greatly annoyed by hostile Indians, 
and by the French settlers who were constantly 
trying to seize more land; and so it was resoled 
to put the militia in a state of defence. For 
this purpose the province was divided into iour 
districts, and each adjutant-general was expected 
to assemble and train the militia u* his own 
especial district, as well as to inspect their arms 
and enforce all necessary discipline. The ap¬ 
pointment gave to each adjutant the rank of 
major, with a yearty payment of one hundred 
and fifty pounds. 

George had scarcely entered upon the duties 
of this new position when his brother Lawrence, 


50 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

who had been in delicate health for some time, 
was advised by his physicians to try the ex¬ 
periment of a warmer climate. He decided to 
spend the winter in the West Indies, and George 
was the only one he wished as a companion. 
44 He should think nothing of sickness,” he said, 
44 if he could but always have li,is brother George 
with him.” 

The two brothers set sail for the Barbadoes 
earty in the fall of 1751, and during his short 
stay on the island, George seems to have closely 
observed the manners of the people, the soil 
and its productions, the military force, fortifica- 
ons, mode of government, etc., all of which 
we find noted down in his daily journal. 

On one page we read: 

44 In the cool of the evening we rode out, 
and were perfectly enraptured with the beauti¬ 
ful prospects which every side presented to 
our view — the fields of cane, corn, fruit-trees, 
etc., in a delightfnl green.’ 

On another page: 

44 There are several singular risings in the 
island, one above the other, so that scarcely 
any part is deprived of a beautiful prospect, 




I 


New Duties. 


5i 


both of sea and land ; and what is contrary to 
observations in other countries, each elevation 
is better than the next below. The earth in 
most parts is extremely rich, and as black as 
our richest marsh meadows. How wonderful 
that such people should be in debt, and not 
be able to indulge themselves in all the luxu¬ 
ries as well as necessaries of life. Yet so it 
happens. Estates are often alienated for debts. 
How persons coming to estates of two, three, 
and four hundred acres (which are the largest) 
can want, is to me most wonderful. There are 
few who can be called middling people. They 
are very rich or very poor; for by a law of the 
Island, every gentleman is obliged to keep a 
white person for every ten acres, capable of 
acting in the militia, and consequently the per¬ 
sons so kept cannot but be very poor. They 
are well disciplined and appointed to their sev¬ 
eral stations, so that in any alarm every man 
may be at his post in less than two hours.” 

While on the Island, Washington had a se¬ 
vere attack of small-pox, the marks of which he 
carried with him through life. But he seems to 
have made very light of it himself, for this is 


52 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

the only record of the sickness in his diary. 

“ November 7th : — Was strongly attacked with 
small-pox. Sent for Dr. Lanahrn, whose attend¬ 
ance was very constant till my recovery and 
going out, which were not till Thursday, the 
12th of December. 

“ December 12th : — Went to town and called 
on Major Clarke’s family, who had kindly visited 
me in my illness, and contributed all they could, 
in sending me the necessaries the disorder re¬ 
quired.” 

After seeing his sick brother comfortably 
settled in his lodgings at the Barbadoes, George 
was obliged to return home. 

The two brothers never met again, for Law¬ 
rence instead of gaining in health, began to 
fail rapidly, and died a few months after. 

He had always been such a wise, kind coun¬ 
selor to his younger brother, that it seemed 
almost like losing another father, and George 
felt his loss very keenly. 

Lawrence left him the charge of all his affairs, 
and upon the death of his brother’s little girl, 
which occurred not long after, the estate of 
Mount- Vernon became his property. 


CHAPTER VII. 


EMBASSY TO THE FRENCH COMMANDANT. 

B UT Washington was not yet to enjoy the 
quiet of home ; for about this time a mes¬ 
sage came to him from Governor Dinwiddie, en¬ 
trusting him with a very difficult commission. 

The people of Virginia had been greatly 
alarmed by a report that the French, assisted 
by the Indians, were building a long line of 
military posts on the Ohio. To find out the 
truth of the matter, and deliver an official let¬ 
ter to the French commander, was what Gover¬ 
nor Dinwiddie desired of young “ Major ” Wash¬ 
ington. He was quite equal to the occasion, 
although the journey of five hundred and sixty 
miles on horseback was beset with dangers. 

It was the beginning of the winter season, 
and the whole country west of the Blue Moun¬ 
tains was then a trackless forest. 


54 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

Mr. Gist, an experienced backwoodsman, John 
Davidson, an interpreter for the Indians, Jacob 
Van Braam, a Dutchman who could speak French, 
and four attendants, accompanied Washington 
in this perilous undertaking. 

They set out from Williamsburg on the last 
day of October; and on the 24th of Novem¬ 
ber, after many rough passages through the 
mountains, they reached Logstown, an Indian 
settlement, where Tanacharison — known as the 
Half-king — and other sachems, had their wig¬ 
wams. Washington hoped to obtain here a 
number of guides and guards for the rest of 
the journny, as well as to find out more about 
the French and their fortifications along the 
Ohio. 

They succeeded after much parley with the 
Indians, in securing three chiefs and one of the 
best of the hunters for guides. The Half-king also 
gave them valuable information concerning the 
movements of the French. They had already 
built several forts on the Mississippi and Ohio, 
and declared their right to all land watered by 
the tributaries of these rivers. 

By the first of December the party was again 


TK E ACH E HO US 1N DIA 





«"H' 




'.’vy 

c>«?sp 






































































































































































































































































































- 




































- 





























































































































. ♦ 

























Embassy to the French Commandant. 57 

on the road, and after “ excessive rains, snows, 
and bad travelling through many mires and 
swamps,” they at last reached the fort, where 
the French commandant Legardeur de St. Pierre 
was stationed. He was a gentlemanly, but keen 
old soldier, and although he received Wash¬ 
ington and his party very politely, it soon be¬ 
came evident that he meant to alienate the 
convoy of Indian guides. He also declared that 
ail the surrounding country belonged to the 
French, and that he had orders to take prisoner 
every Englishman who tried to make trade on 
the waters of the Ohio. 

Washington says in the journal which he kept 
at this time, “ I cannot say that ever in my life 
I suffered so much anxiety as I did in this 
affair.” 

After a great deal of persuasion, the Half- 
king and his companions finally consented to 
go back with the party; and as the French 
commandant had prepared his answer for Gov¬ 
ernor Dinwiddie, Washington felt in haste to 
return. 

They were obliged to travel one hundred 
and thirty miles in canoes, as the horses, quite 


58 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

worn out by the long ourney, had been sent 
off unloaded. “Several times,” says Washing¬ 
ton in his journal, “ we had liked to have been 
dashed against rocks; and many times we were 
obliged all hands to get out and remain in the 
water half an hour or more getting over the 
shoals. . . . . . . At one place the ice 

had lodged and made it impassable by water; 
we were therefore obliged to carry our canoe 
a quarter of a mile over.” 

When they reached Tenango, an old Indian 
settlement at the mouth of French creek on 
the Ohio, the}^ were met with their horses; but 
from hard work and scanty feeding, the poor 
animals were nearly useless. The cold was now 
increasing every day, while heavy falls of snow 
were blocking the roads, and Washington, anxious 
to get back and report to the Governor, resolved 
to perform the rest of the journey on foot. The 
baggage and effects he left in charge of Mr. 
Van Braam ; then, on the day after Christmas, 
with gun in hand, and the necessar}^ papers and 
provisions in a pack strapped on his back, he 
set out on his journey, Mr. Gist being his only 
companion. 


WASHINGTON CROSSING THE OHIO RIVER 






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Embassy to the French Commandant. 61 

On the second day they met a part}' of Indians, 
evidently sent out by the French commandant 
to waylay them. One of the savages not fifteen 
paces off fired at them, but instead of returning 
the fire, which would probably have brought 
the whole party upon them, they only took the 
one Indian prisoner, disarmed him, and kept 
him as a guide. After a while they let him go, 
and building a fire to deceive the enemy, walked 
all night to get the start of whoever might at¬ 
tempt to follow. The next day they walked 
on till dark, and reached the river above the 
Fork of the Ohio. 

“There was no way,” writes Washington, “for 
getting over but on a raft, which we set about 
with one poor hatchet,’ and finished just after 
sunsetting. This was one whole day’s work. 
We next got it launched, then went on board 
of it and set off; but before we were half way 
over we were jammed in the ice in such a 
manner that we expected every moment our 
raft to sink and ourselves to perish. I put out 
my setting pole to try to stop the raft, that 
the ice might pass by, when the rapidity of the 
stream threw it with such violence against the 


62 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

pole that it jerked me out into ten-feet water; 
but I fortunately saved myself by catching hold 
of one of the raft logs. Notwithstanding all 
our efforts we could not get to either shore, 
but were obliged, as we were near an island, 
to quit our raft and make to it. The cold 
was so extremely severe that Mr. Gist had all 
his fingers and some of his toes frozen, and 
the water shut up so hard that we found no 
difficulty in getting off the island on the ice 
in the morning.” 

A great many artists have pictured this fear¬ 
ful scene of the whirling raft; it was one of 
many narrow escapes from death during that 
perilous journey ; but a kind Providence watched 
over the life of the brave young major, and on 
the sixteenth of January he reached Williamsburg 
in safety. He immediately waited on Governor 
Dinwiddie, and presented him with the results 
of his expedition. These were the belts* of 
wampum which he had brought from the Indian 
kings as pledges of their friendship, the French 
governor’s letters, and last of all his own jour¬ 
nal. 

The Governor was much pleased with the 


Embassy to the French Commandant. 


success of the whole undertaking, and insisted 
upon having the interesting journal printed im¬ 
mediately. This Washington strongly objected 
to, pleading that having been written in a wintry 
wilderness, by a young, ignorant traveller, often 
cold, wet, and weary, it needed a thousand cor¬ 
rections. 

“ Hoot awa, Major,” exclaimed the old Scotch¬ 
man ; “ hoot awa, mon ! what tank ye aboot 

amendments; I am sure the pamphlet need na 
blush to be seen by his Majesty himsel; and 
in good troth I mean to send him a copy or 
twa of it. And besides, our Assembly will rise 
to-morrow or next day, and I wish each of the 
members to take a few copies home with them. 
So we must e’en straightway print the journal, 
off-hand as it is.” 

The journal was of course printed without 
delay. Every one in the Assembly read it, and 
every one spoke loudly in its praise. During 
the whole expedition Washington had noticed 
every thing with his usual exactness. The soil, 
the timber, the confluence of rivers, the sites 
for forts, the characters of the different people, 
the treachery of the Indians, the subtilty of 


64 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

the Frenchman — all were noted with careful 
eye. 

Among the gentlemen in Williamsburg who 
read the journal was a Mr. Waller. 

“ This young man,” said he to Mr. Robertson, 
the speaker of the house of Burgesses, “ has 
deserved well of his country; and her repre¬ 
sentatives in Assembly ought to acknowledge 
the obligation.” 

“ That’s exactly my opinion',” replied Rob¬ 
ertson, “ and if you will let me know when the 
major next visits us, I will ‘make a motion to 
that effect.” 

The next day Washington, quite ignorant 
of the honor intended him, entered the house 
and took his seat in the gallery. 

Mr. Robertson instantly arose, and ordering 
silence, called out, “ Gentlemen, it is proposed 
that the thanks of this house be given to Major 
Washington, for the very gallant manner in 
which he executed the important trust reposed 
in him by his Excellency, Governor Dinwiddie.” 

The house immediately rose as one man, and, 
turning towards Washington, saluted him with 
a general bow, and in very flattering terms ex- 







i 

* 



4 


FIGHTING ON THE VIRGINIA FRONTIER 
















































Embassy to the French Commandant . 67 

pressed their high appreciation of his services. 

Washington was completely overcome. Three 
times he tried to reply, but he could get no 
farther than “ Mr. Speaker! Mr. Speaker!” 

To relieve him from his embarrassment, Mr. 
Robertson kindly called out, “ Major Washing¬ 
ton, Major Washington, sit down; your modesty 
alone is equal to your merit.’' 
































CHAPTER VIII. 


GENERAL BRADDOCIt’S DEFEAT, AND OTHER 
FRONTIER SKIRMISHES. 

I N addition to this testimonial Washington 
was raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel; 
and two companies of men were immediately 
ordered to resist the French in their attempts 
to take more land. 

This was Washington’s first experience in 
raising and equipping troops without sufficient 
money; and from his headquarters at Alexan¬ 
dria, he writes to the Governor that his men are 
discouraged for want of pay, and that many of 
them are without shoes or stockings, some with¬ 
out shirts, and not a few without coats or waist¬ 
coats. 

It was a difficult matter to hold his ground 
with such a handful of poorly-equipped, ignorant 
soldiers, and it is not surprising that at Great 


Braddock's Defeat , and other Skirmishes . 69 

Meadows he was obliged to retreat after a long 
and desperate resistance. The French general, 
Count de Yilliers, finally sent in a flag to Wash¬ 
ington, extolling his gallantry and offering him 
the most honorable terms. The whole affair 
was conducted with so much bravery and true 
military skill, that the House of Burgesses sent 
a note of thanks to Washington and his officers, 
with a pistole apiece to each of his three hundred 
faithful men. 

Governor Dinwiddie now wished to attack the 
French forces at Fort Duquesne, but Washing¬ 
ton told him that without more troops and am¬ 
munition, such an attempt would surely end in 
a new defeat. 

“I have orders to complete my regiment,” he 
writes to Mr. William Fairfax, “ and not a 

sixpence is sent for that purpose. 

Were our men ever so willing to go, for want 
of the proper necessaries of life, they are now 
unable to do it. Scarcely a man has either 
shoes, stockings, or a hat, and there is not one 
that has a blanket to secure him from cold or 
wet.” 

Governor Dinwiddie, a quick-tempered, unrea- 


;o 


Young Folks' Life of Washington. 


sonable man, did not like to have any objec¬ 
tions raised to his scheme, and he sent word 
to England that it would be far better if Amer¬ 
ican officers acting with the British, should bear 
no command. 

Washington immediately gave up his com¬ 
mission, although Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, 
whom the King had appointed commander-in- 
chief of the forces to act against the French, 
urged him very strongly to keep bis position. 

“ I choose,” he says, “ to submit to the loss 
of health, which 1 have already sustained (not 
to mention that of effects) and the fatigue 1 
have undergone in our first efforts, rather than 
subject myself to the same inconveniences and 
run the risk of a second disappointment.” 

He had scarcely returned to Mount Vernon, 
however, before General Braddock, with two 
heavy regiments from England, arrived in the 
Chesapeake Bay. 

He had heard of Colonel Washington’s bravery, 
and inquired for him as soon as he came to 
Williamsburg. 

“ He has retired from the service, sir,” said 
Governor Dinwiddie. 



COLONEL WASHINGTON 












































































. 
























- ' 



















- 




















♦ • 




















. 





















Braddock's Defeat , and other Skirmishes . 73 

“ Retired, sir ! ” exclaimed the General; 
“Colonel Washington retired! Pray, sir, 
what’s the reason ? ” 

On hearing the cause, General Braddock was 
greatly excited, and declared at once, — 



BRADDOCK’S HEADQUARTERS. 


“ He is a young man of sense and spirit; 
he knows and asserts his rights as becomes a 
soldier and a British subject.” 

He then wrote to Washington and invited 
him to become his aid-de-camp. 









74 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

This was a high position of honor, and Wash¬ 
ington appreciating the General’s regard, did 
not hesitate to accept it. 

It was in the month of June, 1755, that the 
army under General Braddock, 
consisting of about two thou¬ 
sand men, left Alexandria for 
Fort Duquesne. 

On the way Washington was 
taken very sick with a fever, but 
he kept up with the march, and 
constantly warned Braddock of 
the ambush attacks of the In- GEN - braddock 
dians. The Virginia Rangers, whom Washington 
commanded, were accustomed to this underhand 
manner of fighting, and as they passed through 
the dense woods and narrow defiles of the Mo- 
nongahela, lie asked permission to lead the way 
witli these experienced riflemen. 

But General Braddock was greatly offended 
at this interference, as he called it, and, formed 
in heavy columns, the troops continued to ad¬ 
vance. 

Washington’s worse fears were confirmed, 
for when they were but seven miles from 



Braddock's Defeat , and other Skirmishes. 7 5 

Duquesne, and passing through a thick forest, 
the air suddenty rang with Indian war-whoops. 

From behind rocks and trees the enemy sprang 
out upon them like wild beasts, and twice Wash¬ 
ington’s horse was shot from under him. Gen¬ 
eral Braddock was mortally wounded, and as 
he was laid down faint from the loss of blood, 
he said to Washington: 

“Well, Colonel, what’s to be done now?” 

“Retreat, sir,” replied Washington; “retreat 
by all means; for the Regulars won’t fight, 
and the Rangers are nearly all killed! ” 

“ Poor fellows ! ” replied he, “ poor fellows ! 
Well, do as you will.” 

The warfare had now changed to a hand-to- 
hand fight with tomahawks, and the scene was 
enough to make one’s blood run cold. 

As soon as they began their retreat, the In¬ 
dians ceased their massacre, but more than one- 
half of the two thousand British regulars had 
already been killed. 

On reaching Fort Cumberland, where they 
met a reinforcement of the army, General Brad¬ 
dock died in Washington’s arms. Almost his 
last words were, “ Oh, that I had but followed 



76 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

your advice!” He left Washington his favorite 
horse, and his old body servant Bishop. 


A HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT. 

The latter never left his new master till death 
separated them. 

Before Washington left Fort Cumberland, 


Braddock's Defeat , and other Skirmishes. 77 

he sent a messenger to Governor Dinwiddie with 
the disheartening news that General Braddock 
was slain, his army totally defeated, the rem¬ 
nant on their march to Philadelphia, and the 
whole frontier given up to the Indians. 

A dreadful panic of fear and dread spread 
through the whole country. The Governor in¬ 
stantly called the Legislature together, and when 
Washington reached Williamsburg, the members 
of the Assembly, together with a number of the 
citizens, came out to meet him. They realized 
that but for him the ruin would have been 
complete. 

“ Braddock,” said they, “lost the victory ; but 
Washington saved the army.” 

At the meeting of this Assembly, forty thou¬ 
sand pounds were voted, and orders issued for 
raising a regiment of a thousand men. Wash¬ 
ington was appointed commander-in-chief of all 
the forces of the colony, and received at the 
same time three hundred pounds as some re¬ 
turn for his losses. 

He fixed upon Winchester, a county town 
one hundred and forty miles northwest of Rich¬ 
mond, for his headquarters. He found the whole 


78 


Young Folks' Life of Washington. 


neighborhood in a great state of alarm. The 
country people were flocking into the town for 
protection, and those who lived there were mov¬ 
ing out, for fear the town would become the 
seat of war. 

“ So great was the dread of the French and 
Indians throughout the settlements,” says Wash¬ 
ington, “ that the poor creatures would run to 
meet us, like persons half distracted with joy, 
and then with looks blank with terror, would 
tell us that such or such a neighbor’s family, 
perhaps the very night before, had been mas¬ 
sacred ! and that they had heard their cries, 
and saw the flames that devoured their houses. 
Also that they themselves after saying their 
prayers at night, never lay down to sleep with¬ 
out first taking leave of one another, as if they 
never expected to meet again in this world. 
These things so filled my heart with grief that 
I solemnly declare to God, if I know myself, 
I would gladly offer my own life a sacrifice to 
the butchering enemy, if I could but thereby 
insure the safety of these my poor distressed 
countrymen.” 

Governor Dinwiddie still refused to send him 


4 





OLD CAPITOL, WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA 























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Bruddock's Defeat , and other Skirmishes. 8t 

a sufficient number of men to protect the frontier ; 
and seeing no hope of a force sufficient to attack 
Fort Duquesne, he at last formed a chain of 
garrisons along the three hundred and sixty miles 
he was called upon to defend. Then with a fly¬ 
ing corps of liis bravest men, he would scour 
the country in search of the murdering parties. 
In this manner three anxious years were spent; 
but at the end of that time the army was re¬ 
cruited, and plans were at once made for the 
reduction of Fort Duquesne. 

It was at this time that Washington for the 
sake of economy, adopted the Indian dress for 
his men and officers. 

“ Nothing but the uncertainty of general ap¬ 
probation,” he says, “ causes me to hesitate a 
moment to leave my regimentals, and proceed 
as light as any Indian in the woods. It is an 
unbecoming dress, I own; but convenience, rather 
than show, I think should be consulted.” 

Washington Irving thinks that this was the 
origin of the so-called rifleman’s dress. 

There was some dispute about the road they 
should take to Fort Duquesne. Washington 
advised the old road that Braddock’s men had 


82 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

cut out with so much difficulty, but General 
Forbes, the British officer, was determined to 
make a new road. This delay gave the French 
ample time to quit the Fort and take with them 
all their stores and ammunition. 

When the British came in sight of Fort Du- 
quesne, they found the fortifications in ruins, for 
the French, before getting into their boats, had 
set fire to all the buildings. 

Still it was a satisfaction to secure this im¬ 
portant outpost—“the key of the Western 
World,” as Washington had often called it; 
and when the news reached Williamsburg, there 
was great rejoicing throughout the whole country. 


CHAPTER IX. 


WASHINGTON’S COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 

E read of a certain “ Lowland beauty ” 



that excited the boyish admiration of 


Washington, and to whom he indited senti¬ 
mental verses at the age of sixteen. It is evi¬ 
dent, however, from occasional notes in his 
journal, and letters to intimate friends, that 
this attachment was not reciprocated. 

Ten years later, when a Virginian colonel, 
we find him lingering in New York after his 
military business is transacted; and tradition 
tells us that the beautiful Mary Phillipse is 
the cause of this unwonted delay. His diffidence 
prevents him from asking the question nearest to 
his heart, and Roger Morris, his fellow aide-de- 
camp, wins the hand of the brilliant belle. 

Three years after, when Washington was on 
his way to Fort Duquesne, he became ac- 


84 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

quainted with Mr. Chamberlayne, a wealthy 
planter on York River. 

“On the boat touching the southern or New 
Kent side,” writes George Washington Parke 
Custis, “ the soldier’s progress was arrested by 
one of those personages who give the beau 
ideal of the Virginia gentleman of the old 
regime — the very soul of kindliness and hos¬ 
pitality. It was in vain the soldier urged his 
business at Williamsburg, important communica¬ 
tions to the Governor, etc. Mr. Chamberlayne, 
on whose domain the militaire had just landed, 
would hear of no excuse. Colonel Washington's 
was a name so dear to all the Virginians, that 
his passing by one of the old castles of the 
Dominion without calling and partaking of the 
hospitalities of the host, was out of the question. 

“The Colonel, however, did not surrender at 
discretion, but stoutly maintained his ground 
till Chamberlayne, bringing up his reserve, in 
the intimation that he would introduce his friend 
to a young and charming widow, then beneath 
his roof, the soldier capitulated, on condition 
that he should dine — only dine — and then, 
by pressing his charger and borrowing of the 





MRS. MARTHA CUSTIS 














































































































































































































































































































































































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Washington s Courtship and Marriage . 87 

night, he would reach Williamsburg before His 
Excellency could shake off his morning slum¬ 
bers. Orders were accordingly issued to Bishop, 
the Colonel’s body-servant and faithful follower, 
who, together with the fine English charger, 
had been bequeathed by the dying Braddock to 
Major Washington, on the famed and fatal field 
of the Monongahela. Bishop, bred in the school 
of European discipline, raised his hand to his 
cap, as much as to say, ‘Your Honor’s orders 
shall be obeyed.’ 

“ The Colonel now proceeded to the mansion, 
and was introduced to various guests (for when 
was a Virginian domicile of the olden time 
without guests ? ) and, above all, to the charm¬ 
ing widow. Tradition relates that they were 
mutually pleased on this their first interview. 
Nor is it remarkable. They were of an age 
when impressions are strongest. The lady was 
fair to behold, of fascinating manners, and splen¬ 
didly endowed with worldly benefits. The hero, 
fresh from his early fields, redolent of fame, 
and with a form on which — 


Every god did seem to set his seal 
To give the world assurance of a man. 


88 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

“ The morning passed pleasantly away; even¬ 
ing came with Bishop, true to his orders and 
firm at his post, holding the favorite charger 
with one hand, while the other was waiting to 
offer the ready stirrup. 

“ The sun sank in the horizon, and yet the 
Colonel appeared not. And then the old soldier 
marvelled at his chief’s delay. ‘’Twas strange, 
’twas passing strange — surely he was not wont 
to be a single moment behind his appointments, 
for he was the most punctual of all punctual men. 
Meantime the host enjoyed the scene of the 
veteran on duty at the gate while the Colonel 
was so agreeably employed in the parlor, and 
proclaiming that no guest ever left his house 
after sunset, his military visitor was, without 
much difficulty, persuaded to order Bishop to 
put up the horses for the night. 

“ The sun rode high in the heavens the en¬ 
suing day when the enamored soldier pressed 
with his spur his charger’s side, and speeded 
on his way to the seat of government, where, 
having despatched his public business, he re¬ 
traced his steps, and, at the White House, a 
marriage engagement took place.” 


ARLINGTON HOUSE, HOME OF G. W. P. CUSTIS 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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Washington s Courtship and Marriage. 91 


This 44 charming young widow ” was Mrs. Mar¬ 
tha Custis, whose hus¬ 
band, Daniel Parke 
Custis, had died about 
two years previous, 
leaving her with two 
children and a large 
estate. 

In this same inter¬ 
esting narration of 
George Washington 
Parke Custis, he says: 

44 Much have I heard 
of that marriage of 
Washington from the 
gray-haired domestics who waited at the board 
where love made the feast, and the Virginia 
colonel was the guest. 

44 4 And so you remember,’ I said to old Cully, 
my grandmother's servant, when in his hun¬ 
dredth year, ‘and so you remember when Col¬ 
onel Washington came a-courting your mistress? ’ 

44 4 Ay, master, that I do,’ said Cully. 4 Great 
times, sir, great times; shall never see the like 
again.’ 



WATCH 1‘BKSENTKL) TO MAltTIfA 
CUSTIS BY WASHINGTON. 


9 2 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

“‘And Washington looked something like a 
man — a proper man, hey, Cully?’ 

“'Never seed the like, sir — never the like 
of him, though I have seen many in my day — 
so tall, so straight, and then he sat on a horse 
and rode with such an air! Ah, sir, he was 
like no one else! Many of the grandest gen¬ 
tlemen, in the gold lace, were at the wedding, 
but none looked like the man himself.’ ” 

Washington’s marriage took place on the sev¬ 
enteenth of January (sixth, Old Style), 1759 , 
at the residence of Mrs. Oustis, in New Kent 
County. The clergyman who officiated was the 
Reverend David Mossom, rector of the neigh¬ 
boring parish of St. Peter’s. 

As Washington was at this time a member 
of the House of Burgesses, he spent three 
months at the “ White House,” as the Custis 
mansion was called. At the close of the ses¬ 
sion, however, he returned to Mount Vernon, 
and the young couple commenced housekeeping 
in the old-fashioned Virginian style. 


MONTTOELLO 









































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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CHAPTER X. 


LIFE AT MOUNT VERNON. 

W ASHINGTON describes his estate at 
Mount Vernon as situated in “a high, 
healthy country; in a latitude between the ex¬ 
tremes of heat and cold, on one of the finest 
rivers in the world — a river well stocked with 
various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year, 
and in spring with shad, herrings, bass, carp, 
sturgeon, etc., in abundance.” The borders of 
the estate were washed by more than ten miles 
of tide-water, and from Washington’s diary we 
may be sure that no work on the plantation, 
no improvement in its roads and fences, no 
simplest detail of farming life, was ever con¬ 
sidered beneath his notice. 

To his friend Richard Washington, in Lon¬ 
don, he writes, “ I am now, I believe, fixed in 
this seat with an agreeable partner for life, and 


g6 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

T hope to find more happiness in retirement 
than I ever experienced in the wide and bust¬ 
ling world.” 

His diary notes the arrival and departure of 
frequent guests, and it is evident that both he 
and Mrs. Washington delighted to keep 44 open 
house.” 

Every one knew of Colonel Washington’s benev¬ 
olence, and many pleasant anecdotes are told of 
his kindness to the poor and needy who came 
to him for assistance. 

Mr. Peake, the manager of one of his planta¬ 
tions, said that he had orders to fill a corn-house 
every year, for the sole use of the neighboring 
poor. 

44 It was,” he adds, 44 a most seasonable and 
precious relief, saving numbers of poor women 
and children from miserable famine, and bless¬ 
ing them with a cheerful plenteousness of 
bread.” 

One year when corn was one dollar a bushel, 
Washington not only gave away all that could 
be spared from the granaries, but bought at 
that high rate several hundred bushels for the 
deserving poor around Mount Vernon. 


MOUNT VERNON. 




























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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Life at Mount Vernon. 


99 


Lazy, worthless beggars knew that it was of 
no use to apply to Washington, but those whose 
characters were good, and whom sickness or 
loss had reduced to want, he was always ready 
to help. 

The Potomac abounded in fine herring, and 
Washington ordered a seine and bateau to be 
kept on one of his best fishing shores for the 
poor. If the bateau was lost, or the seine 
spoilt (which often happened) they were im¬ 
mediately replaced; and if the women and 
children who sometimes came for the fish, were 
not strong enough to haul in the seine, Wash¬ 
ington would send down some of his men to 
help them. 

“Just before the Revolutionary war,” writes 
a certain Mr. Nogmyer, “I took a trip to the 
springs of Virginia, where I found a world of 
people collected. In consequence of the crowd, 
I was at first quite troubled in getting lodgings, 
but at length was lucky enough to get a mat¬ 
tress in the hut of a very honest baker. Among 
his customers, I frequently saw a poor Lazarite 
with sallow cheek and hollow eye, slowly creep¬ 
ing to the door, who, at a nod from the baker, 


IOO 


Young Folks Life of Washington. 


would eagerly seize a fine loaf and bear it off 
without depositing a cent. 

“Stophel,” I said to him one day, “you seem 
to sell a world of bread here, but, notwith¬ 
standing that, I fear you don’t gain much by 
it.” 

“ No, squire ; what makes you think so ? ” 

“ You credit too much, Stophel. Don’t I 
see these poor people every day carrying away 
your bread and yet paying you nothing?” 

“ O, squire, you don’t understand! I’ll tell 
you how we work the matter: The good man 
Colonel George Washington is here at the 
Springs. Every season as soon as he comes, 
he calls and says to me ‘ Stophel,’ says he, 

‘ you seem to have a great deal of company; 
and some I fear who don’t come here for 
pleasure; and yet you know they can’t do with¬ 
out eating. Though pale and sickly, they must 
have bread; but it will never do to make them 
pay for it. Poor creatures ! they seem already 
low-spirited enough through sickness and pov¬ 
erty.; their spirits must not be sunk lower by 
taking from them every day what little money 
they have pinched from their poor families at 


Life at Mount Vernon. 


IOI 


home. I’ll tell you what’s to be done, Stophel; 
you must give each of them a good hot loaf every 
morning, and charge it to me; when I am going 
away I’ll pay you all.’ And believe me, squire, 
he has often at the end of the season paid me 
as much as eighty dollars, and that too for poor 
creatures who did not know the hand that fed 
them ; for I had strict orders from him not to 
mention a syllable of it to anybody.” 

Washington’s industry during these fifteen 
years of quiet home-life was no less remark¬ 
able than his benevolence. 

From a boy he had always been an early 
riser, and at Mount Vernon he rose in time 
to have breakfast and be on horseback by sun¬ 
rise. 

It was his custom to make a daily tour of 
his whole estate, which was divided into a num¬ 
ber of different settlements, and his private 
memoranda show how exact a record he kept 
of every thing done upon the twenty-five hun¬ 
dred acres. 

A leaf from the diary he kept at this time, 
gives us a very good idea of his activity : 

“ Fitted a two-eyed plough, instead of a 


102 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

duck-bill plough, and with much difficulty 
made my chariot-wheel horses plough. Put 
the pole-end horses into the plough in the 
morning; and put in the postilion and hind- 
horse in the afternoon; but the ground being 
well-swarded over, and very heavy ploughing, 
I repented putting them in at all, for fear it 
should give them a habit of stopping in the 
chariot.” 

“ Peter (my smith) and I after several ef¬ 
forts to make a plough after a new model, 
partly of my own contriving, were fain to give 
it over, at least for the present.” 

“ April 4 th : — Apprehending the herrings were 
come, hauled in the seine, but caught only a 
few of them, though a good many of other 
sorts of fish. 

“ April 8 th : — Seven o’clock a messenger came 
to inform me that my mill was in great danger 
of being destroyed. I immediately hurried off 
all hands with shovels, etc., to its assistance, 
and got there myself just time enough to give 
it a reprieve for this time, by wheeling gravel 
into the place which the water had washed. 
While I was there a very heavy thunder 


Life at Mount Vernon. 


103 


shower came on, which lasted upwards of an 
hour. I tried what time the mill required to 
grind a bushel of corn, and to my sur¬ 
prise found it was within five minutes of an 
hour. Old Anthony attributed this to the low 
head of water, but whether it was so or not I 
cannot say. The works are all decayed, and 
out of order, which I rather take to be the 
cause. This bushel of corn when ground meas¬ 
ured near a peck more of meal.” 

“ Little Jacky ” and Patcy Oustis, his two 
step-children, are frequently mentioned in this 
diary, and his fatherly love and care for them 
are very manifest. Master Jacky at the time 
of his mother’s marriage was a stout, rosy- 
cheeked, mischievous little fellow of six. Patcy 
was two years younger, and seems to have always 
been a pale, delicate child. 

After a few years of suffering that even the 
most tender of parents could not relieve, the 
young girl died; and Washington who loved 
her as his own daughter, was almost heart¬ 
broken at the loss. 


CHAPTER XI. 


CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 
HILE Washington was so absorbed in 



his pleasant home life at Mount Ver¬ 


non, he did not lose sight of the great political 
questions that even then began to agitate the 
whole country. 

Great Britain seemed to look with an envious 
eye on the prosperity of her American chil¬ 
dren, and in order to make them realize their 
dependence upon the Mother Country, she de¬ 
termined to raise their taxes. This Lord North 
declared should be done without allowing the 
American Colonies any voice in her councils^ 
Now a certain amount of taxation was of 
course to be expected; but taxation without 
representation was an act of cruel injustice, that 
free-born America could not and would not 
tolerate. 


CONTINENTAL MONEY. 





















































Causes of the Revolutionary War. 107 

It was being treated like a slave, not like 
a child. 

Justly indignant at having their rights thus 
trampled upon, the colonies immediately began 
to form patriotic societies all over the land. 
They burned in effigy the British officers who 
tried to enforce this “ Stamp Act,” as it was 
called, and tore down the houses of the few 
Americans who upheld the British. 

Everywhere the mob was furious; and open 
war would have been 
tho immediate result, 
had not Parliament 
hastily repealed the act. 

Lord North, how¬ 
ever, insisted upon 
keeping the three pence 
a pound on tea, and 
several ships ladened 
with the leaf “ that 
cheers but not inebri¬ 
ates,” were immediate- 

liORD NORTH. 

ly sent off to Amenea. 

Lord Fairfax happened to be at Mount Vernon 
when Washington received word from a friend 



108 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

in London that the tea-ships were about to 
sail. 

44 Well, my lord,” said he, 44 and so the ships 
with the gunpowder tea are, it seems, on their 
way to America.” 

“Well, but, Colonel, why do you call it gun¬ 
powder tea ? ” 

44 Why, 1 am afraid, my lord,” replied Wash¬ 
ington, 44 it will prove inflammable and produce 
an explosion that shall shake both countries.” 

His prophecy was soon fulfilled, as history 
shows us. 

When the vessels ladened with tea approached 
Philadelphia, the pilots were forbidden to con¬ 
duct them up the river. At New York the 
Governor ordered some of the tea to be landed, 
under the protection of an armed ship, but 
the people took it into custody, and would 
not let any of it be sold. In Boston it was 
feared that as the loaded vessels lay in the har¬ 
bor the tea would be landed in small quanti¬ 
ties. So several men dressed up as Indians, 
went on board the ships at night and threw 
the whole cargo overboard. It was a curious 
sight next morning to see three hundred and 



Cazises of the Revolutionary War. ioq 

forty great chests of tea broken open and float¬ 
ing all about the harbor. But it was 46 a cup 



From Samuel Adams Drake’s “ Around the Hub, a Boy’s Book about Boston.” 


of tea ” well-steeped in patriotism, and thirsty 
Boston fully appreciated it. 

To punish the Colonies for such rebellious (?) 
conduct, and to secure the payment of the tea, 
Parliament passed the famous “ Boston Port 
Bill,” by which “ all commercial intercourse 
with the port of Boston, and all landing and 
shipping of any goods at that place,” was strictly 
forbidden. 



iio Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

But this unjust measure only added fuel to 
the flame of righteous indignation that was 
now fast spreading throughout the country. 

When the news reached Virginia, the House 
of Burgesses then in session, passed resolutions 
of sympathy. An order was also issued that 
the first day of June, when the “Port Bill” 
was to take effect, “should be observed as a 
day of fasting, humiliation and prayer, to im¬ 
plore God to give them one heart and one 
mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper 
means, every injury to American rights.” 

This outburst of patriotic sympathy highly 
offended Lord Dunmore, the British Governor 
of Virginia, but he could not prevent either 
the public Fast or the General Convention then 
and there appointed. 

In Washington’s diary for 1774 , we read, on 
June 1 st: “Went to church and fasted all 
day.” 

The convention which met in August, ap¬ 
pointed seven delegates to a general Congress 
which should meet at Philadelphia in Sep¬ 
tember. 

George Washington was of course one of the 


Causes of the Revolutionary War. i r r 

seven. He went to Philadelphia in company 
with his friends Patrick Henry and Edward 
Pendleton. 

All the colonies except Georgia were repre¬ 
sented in this first Congress, and Peyton Ran¬ 
dolph of Virginia, was chosen president. The 
“ Bill of Rights ” which they drew up at this 
time was a paper remarkable for its wisdom 
and moderation. In the petition to King 
George there are no whining complaints as of 
beaten children, but the firm remonstrances of 
injured and indignant men. “We ask,” they 

say, “for peace, liberty, and safety. 

Can any reason be given why English subjects 
who live three thousand miles from the royal 
palace, should enjoy less liberty than those 
who are three hundred miles from it ? ” 

When the British ministry, after considerable 
delay, at length brought these American papers 
before Parliament, Lord Chatham arose and 
made a noble speech in behalf of the Colonies. 

“The way,” he said, “must be at once opened 
for reconciliation. It will soon be too late. His 
Majesty may indeed wear his crown; but the 
American jewel out of it, it will not be worth 


12 


Young Folks' Life of Washington. 


wearing. They say you have no right to tax 
them without their consent. They say truly, 
representation and taxation must go together ; 
they are inseparable .” With many like appeals, 
Lord Chatham tried to convince his country¬ 
men of the justice of America’s complaints; 
but he was always • opposed by a large majority. 

Doctor Franklin who was then in London, as 
agent for Philadelphia, wrote to one of his 
friends at home: “ The sun of liberty is set; 

you must light up the candles of industry and 
economy.” 

“ Be assured,” was the reply, “ we shall light 
up torches — but of quite another sort.” 






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GENERAL GAGE. 








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CHAPTER XII. 


THE WAR BEGINS, AND WASHINGTON IS ELECTED 
COMMA NDER-IN-C LI IEF. 

I N the meantime the people of Massachusetts 
were suffering from many petty tyrannies. 
Their assemblies in the Old South, at Boston, 
were frequently broken up by the insolent red¬ 
coats; and General Gage, the British Governor, 
having heard that considerable ammunition 
had been stored away at Lexington and Con¬ 
cord, resolved to seize or destroy it. 

Major Pitcairn, with some eight hundred men, 
was ordered to do this under cover of night. 

But Paul Revere and other Boston patriots, 
heard of the secret expedition, and mounting 
their horses at midnight, they 

-spread the alarm 

Tlirough every Middlesex village and farm, 

For the country-folk to be up and to arm. 


n6 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

When Major Pitcairn and his troops arrived 
at Lexington early on Sunday morning, they 

found the town 
militia all as¬ 
sembled on the 
village Green. 
“ Disperse, you 
rebels! Throw 
down your arms 
and disperse! ” 
he cried. 

Almost at the 
same moment, 
the advance 
guard of British 
troops marched 
forward and dis¬ 
charged their 
muskets. Eight 
of the Ameri¬ 
cans were instantly killed and a number wounded. 

The militia now returned the firing in good 
earnest. From every stone fence, from everv 
clump of bushes along the road, a volley of 
bullets greeted the red-coats. They kept on to 












PAUL REVERE’S RIDE. 























































































































































































































































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Washington is elected Commander-in-Chief. 119 

Concord, however, and took possession of the 
military stores, as General Gage immediately sent 
out a thousand men to help them under Lord 
Percy. 

All, well-a-day ! you all have heard 
That Sabbath’s story, word for word, 

How the farmers fought at Lexington — 

The short, sharp conflict farther on — 

The fierce bush fighting — then the shout 
Of victory ; and the British rout, 

As with broken ranks they turned and fled — 

The proud Lord Percy at their head! 

Instantly the news of this first battle which 
occurred April 19th, 1775, spread like an electric 
flash thoughout the country. 

Messengers were sent in every direction, and 
everywhere the cry was repeated, “ War has 
begun! ” “To arms! to arms! liberty or 
death ! ” 

Washington had already made up his mind 
that “ the peaceful plains of America were 
either to be drenched with blood or inhabited 
by slaves: ” and when the second Congress 
met at Philadelphia on the tenth of May, it was 
he who was appointed chairman of all commit¬ 
tees on military affairs. 


I 20 


Voting Folks Life of Washington. 


The need of a united and well-disciplined 
army was sorely felt at this time. The 
scattered groups of village militia were but 
poorly prepared to meet the practised British 
regulars. Something must be done, and that 
at once. John Adams, who was one of the 
delegates to this Congress, moved that the com¬ 
panies of militia then uniting at Cambridge, 
should be adopted by Congress, and a com- 
mander-in-chief appointed without delay. In 
writing of it he says: 

“ As I had reason to believe this was a point 
of some difficulty, I had no hesitation to de¬ 
clare that I had but one gentleman in mind 
for that important command, and that was a 
gentleman from Virginia, who was among us, 
and very well known to all of us; a gentleman 
whose skill and experience as an officer, whose 
independent fortune, great talents and excel¬ 
lent universal character, would command the 
approbation of all America, and unite the cor¬ 
dial exertion of all the colonies better than 
any other person in the Union. Mr. Wash¬ 
ington, who happened to sit near the door, as 
soon as he heard me allude to him, from his 


THE BATTLE-GROUND 





























































































































































































































































































































































































Washington is elected Commander-in-Chief 123 

characteristic modesty, darted into the library.” 

Congress, however, seemed to have but one 
mind in this matter. On that same June morn¬ 
ing when — 

On Charlestown height the battle came 
That gave to one hill a world-wide fame, 

Washington was elected by a unanimous vote, 
commander-in-chief of the army of the United 
Colonies. 

His reply to the Assembly was modest and 
dignified. He was deeply sensible of the high 
honor thus conferred upon him, but feared his 
abilities and military experience might not be 
equal to the occasion. 

“ However,” he added, “ as Congress desires 
it, I will enter upon the momentous duty and 
exert every power I possess in their service, 
and for the support of the glorious cause. 

“As to pay, I beg leave to assure Congress 
that as no pecuniary consideration could have 
tempted me to accept this arduous employment, 
at the expense of my domestic ease and happi¬ 
ness, I do not wish to make any profit from 
it. 


124 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

“ I will keep an exact account of my expenses. 
Those I doubt not they will discharge; and 
that is all I desire.” 

To Mrs. Washington he writes: 

“ So far from seeking this appointment, I 
have used every endeavor in my power to 
avoid it; not only from my unwillingness to 
part with you and the family, but from a con¬ 
sciousness of its being a trust too great for my 
capacity. I should enjoy more real happiness 
in one month with you at home, than I have 
the most distant prospect of finding abroad, 
if my stay were to be seven times seven years. 
But as it has been a kind of destiny that has 
thrown me upon this service, I shall hope that 
my undertaking it is designed to answer some 
good purpose.” 


THE CLARK HOUSE 





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CHAPTER XIII. 


WASHINGTON TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY. 

I T was on the twenty-first of June, 1775, that 
Washington set out from Philadelphia to 
take command of the army at Cambridge. 

Generals Lee and Schuyler, with one troop of 
light-horse, accompanied him to New York, where 
he was received with all possible public honors. 

“ There was no burning of powder, however,” 
says a letter-writer of the period, and no wonder; 
for New York had then but four barrels, all 
the rest — amounting perhaps to a thousand bar¬ 
rels— having been forwarded to Cambridge. 

It was not until he reached New York that 
Washington heard the particulars of the battle 
of Bunker Hill. Realizing how much he was 
needed by the waiting army, he left General 
Schuyler in command at New York, and 
hastened on. 


128 



under the Great Elm Washington wheeled 
about his fiery black charger, drew his sword, 


Young' Folks' Life of Washington. 

He reached Watertown, three miles from 
Cambridge, on the second day of July. There 
he was met by a large escort, and conducted 
to the camp amid salvos of artillery, notwith¬ 
standing the scarcity of powder. 

On the morning of July 3d the troops were 
drawn up on the Common at Cambridge ; and, 


THE OLD ELM AT CAMBRIDGE. 



WASHINGTON TAKING COMMAND OF THE ARMY AT CAMBRIDGE, 1775 


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Washington takes Command of the Army. 131 

and, flashing it in the air, took command in 
form, of the armies of the United Colonies. 

“ It was not difficult to distinguish him from 
all others,” says Thacher. “ Tall and well- 
proportioned, his personal appearance was truly 
noble and majestic.” 

Mrs. Adams writes of him as follows: 

“ Dignity and ease, the gentleman and the 
soldier, look agreeably blended in him. Modesty 
marks every line and feature of his face.” 

His height was six feet three, and his tread 
measured and heavy. He seemed born to com¬ 
mand ; as some one has said: 

“The noble soul within looked out from a 
body as noble as itself, and no man who ever 
stood in his presence thought or felt himself 
a great man. The awe of his presence fell 
alike on all who beheld him.” 

It is no wonder that such a commander soon 
inspired his soldiers with reverence and en¬ 
thusiasm. 

A chaplain in the army writes as follows a 
few days after the arrival of the Commander- 
in-chief : 

“ There is great overturning in the camp as 


132 Young Folks Life of Washington. 


to order and regularity. The Generals Wash¬ 
ington and Lee are upon the lines every day. 
New orders from His Excellency are read to 
the respective regiments every morning after/ 
prayers. 

“ It is surprising how much work has been 
done. Who would have thought, twelve months 
past, that all Cambridge and Charlestown would 
be covered over with American camps, and 
cut up into forts and intrenchments, and all 
the lands, fields, orchards, laid common, horses 
and cattle feeding in the choicest mowing land, 
whole fields of corn eaten down to the ground, 
and large parks of well-regulated locust-trees cut 
down for firewood and other public purposes? 
This, I must say, looks a little melancholy. 
My quarters are at the foot of Prospect Hill, 
where great preparations are made for the 
reception of the enemy. It is very diverting 
to walk among the camps. They are as differ¬ 
ent in their forms as the owners are in their 
dress; and every tent is a portraiture of the 
temper and tastes of the persons who encamp 
in it. Some are made of boards, and some of 
sail-cloth. Some partly of one and partly of 


ROSTON IN 1774 , FROM DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. 



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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Washington takes Command of the Army. 135 

the other. Again others are made of stone 
and turf, brick or brush. Some are thrown up 
in a hurry, others curiously wrought, the doors 
and windows done with wreaths and withes in 
the manner of a basket. Some are your proper 
tents and marquees, looking like the regular 
camp of the enemy. In these are the Rhode 
Islanders, who are furnished with tent equip¬ 
age and every thing in the most exact English 
style. However, I think this great variety is 
rather a beauty than a blemish in the army.” 

It was indeed a curious medley of men that 
Washington was called upon to command. The 
greater part of them had never seen service; 
many were without suitable clothing, ammuni¬ 
tion or money, and all needed much patient 
training. 

Washington in his first general order wishes 
it to be distinctly understood that “ exact dis¬ 
cipline will be observed, and due subordination 
expected through the whole army, as a failure 
in these most essential points must necessarily 
produce extreme hazard, disorder and confusion, 
and end in shameful disappointment and dis¬ 
grace. He most earnestly requires and expects 


136 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

a due observance of those articles of war, 
established for the government of the army, 
which forbid cursing, swearing and drunkenness. 
And in like manner he requires and expects 
of all officers and soldiers not engaged on 
actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine 
service, to implore the blessing of Heaven upon 
the means used for our safety and defence.” 


CHAPTER XIV. 


SIEGE OF BOSTON. 


HE British army at this time were strongly 



-L posted on Bunker and Reed’s hills, and on 
Boston Neck. Washington’s army, consisting 
now of fourteen thousand men, formed a line 
which extended from Roxbury on the right to 
the river Mystic on the left, a distance of 
twelve miles. 

This arrangement of the troops kept Boston 
closely blockaded, and Washington writing to a 
friend in Virginia, thus describes his position: 

“ The enemy in Boston and on the heights 
at Charlestown (two peninsulas surrounded in 
a manner by ships of war and floating bat¬ 
teries ) are so strongly fortified as to render 
t almost impossible to force their lines, thrown 
up at the head of each neck. 


138 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

“ Without great slaughter on our side, or 
cowardice on theirs, it is absolutely so. We 
therefore can do no more than keep them 
besieged, which they are to all intents and 
purposes, as closely as any troops on earth can 
be, who have an opening to the sea. 

“ Our advanced works and theirs are within 
musket shot. We daily undergo a cannonade 
which has done no injury to our works, and 
very little hurt to our men. 

“ These insults we are compelled to submit 
to, for want of powder; being obliged, except 
now and then giving them a shot, to reserve 
what we have for closer work than cannon 
distance.” 

Mrs. Washington had hoped to have her 
husband home again in the autumn, but as 
this was now impossible, he wrote for her to 
come to him. 

This she did, travelling the whole distance 
in her own carriage and four, with her son 
as an escort. 

The journey took nearly a month, as the 
roads were in a bad state, and she was obliged 
to take frequent rests on the way. 


CRAIGIE MANSION 









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Siege of Boston. 


141 

The arrival of Mrs. Washington in her chariot 
and four, with the gay scarlet and white liveries, 
was like a gleam of sunshine in the weary, 
discouraged camp. The headquarters of the 
General were at first at the President’s house in 
Cambridge, afterwards at the Craigie mansion, 
and here Lady Washington took her place as 
head of something like a little vice-regal court. 
It was considered a great honor to be invited 
to her table, and her presence did not a lit¬ 
tle to smooth frowning brows and silence 
hostile tongues among the little band of com¬ 
manding officers. 

The siege of Boston continued all winter, 
but one morning early in March, the British 
were astonished to find a new fortification 
thrown up on Dorchester Heights. 

“ The rebels have done more in a single 
- m on t h , ” exclaimed the British general Howe, 
“ than my whole army would have done in a 
r^onth ! ” 

Another said : “ It must have been the work 

of at least twelve thousand men; ” and one of 
the officers writing home, declared “ the works 
were raised with a rapidity equal to that of the 


142 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

Genii belonging to Aladdin’s wonderful lamp.” 

The simple truth was, that Washington ever 
on the alert, had suddenly thought of this new 
method of commanding the enemy’s wo^ks, and 
his now well-disciplined soldiers had managed 
in a single night to throw up the new fortifica¬ 
tion. 

The British, totally unprepared for this strategy, 
declared that unless the Americans were at 
once (removed from their new redoubt, His 
Majesty’s fleet would be obliged to leave the 
harbor. 

Three thousand men with Lord Percy at their 
head, were sent to dislodge the Americans; but 
a sudden storm of rain and wind prevented 
them. 

A council of war was then held by the British 
commander, and it was finally decided to sacri¬ 
fice pride to prudence, and leave Boston to the 
Americans. General Howe sent word to Wash¬ 
ington that if his troops were allowed to de¬ 
part unmolested, he would spare the town ; and 
Washington, who never willingly caused unnec¬ 
essary loss or distress, gave orders that not a 
shot should be fired after the retreating enemy. 


FANEUIL HALT 

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Siege of Boston. 


145 


It was the seventeenth of March, 1776 (“ St. 
Patrick’s Day in the morning”), in seventy-eight 
ships and transports, that the British finally left 
Boston. 

When the American army took possession 
of the city, they found a great deal of damage 
had been done by the rough British soldiers, 
notwithstanding the pledges of Lord Howe. 
Many stores had been plundered, vessels seized 
and robbed at the wharves, numerous dwell¬ 
ing houses torn down for fuel, the Old South 
Church used as a riding school and Faneuil Hall 
as a theatre. It was found that the British had 
spiked their largest cannon, but were obliged to 
leave behind in their flight about three thousand 
pounds’ worth of stores and a quantity of ammu¬ 
nition. Every thing seemed to have been done in 
haste and confusion, and when our soldiers took 
possession of Bunker Hill they found wooden sol¬ 
diers left on guard there—doubtless to cover 
the retreat of the garrison. 

It was a most unexpected change of affairs; 
those who had blamed Washington for his seem¬ 
ing idleness, were now the first and the loudest 
to shout his praise, and Congress showed its 


146 Young Folks Life of Washington. 




appreciation of his services by the presentation 
of a beautiful medal. 
















CHAPTER XV. 


DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

HEN the retreating British sailed away 



from Boston, the first question among 


the Americans was, “Where are they going?” 

Washington believed they would attack New 
York, and so made all his plans to send twelve 
regiments there. His agent at Mount Vernon 
feared they would come up the Potomac, and 
wrote Washington, “ Alexandria is much alarmed, 
and indeed the whole neighborhood. The militia 
are all up, but not in arms, for indeed they have 
none, or at least very few. Everybody I see 
tells me that if the people could have notice, 
they would immediately come and defend your 
property so long as they have life.” 

From Washington’s letters to his agent we 
quote the following, to show his kind thought- 


148 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 


fulness even amid the distractions of war: 

“ Let the hospitality of the house with re¬ 
spect to the poor, be kept up. Let no one go 
hungry away. If any of this kind of people 
should be in want of corn, supply their necessi¬ 
ties, provided it does not encourage them in idle¬ 
ness; and I have 110 objection to your giving 
my money to charity to the amount of forty 
or fifty pounds a year, when you think it well 
bestowed. What I mean by having no objec¬ 
tion is, that it is my desire that it should be 
done. You are to consider that neither my¬ 
self nor wife is now in the way to do these 
good offices. 

“ I11 all other respects I recommend to you and 
have no doubt of your observing, the greatest 
economy and frugality ; as I suppose you know 
that 1 do not get a farthing for my services 
here, more than my expenses. It becomes neces¬ 
sary, therefore, for me to be saving at home.” 

Instead of sailing directly to New York, or 
attacking Mount Vernon, the British had other 
plans in view for the spring. They landed 
their troops at Halifax, and then sent part of 
their regiments northward to aid in the reduc- 








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ENCE. 























Declaration of Independence. 151 


tion of Canada. In this they were successful. 
One after another the posts which had been 



HOUSE WHERE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS 
DRAWN UP. 


conquered by the Americans under Arnold, 
fell into the hands of the British, and before 
the close of June they had recovered all Canada. 

A part of the British fleet well re-inforced 
from England, now tried the reduction of the 
Southern Colonies. In this attempt, however, 
















152 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

they were completely foiled; and after a loss 
of some two hundred men, they set sail for New 
York, where the whole British force had been 
ordered to assemble. 

Washington was here before them ; for after 
sending a detachment of his soldiers to put 
Long Island and New York into a state of de¬ 
fence, he had himself followed with the greater 
part of his army. 

While Washington was inspecting the forti¬ 
fications at Harlem, he was much struck by the 
skill manifested in the arrangement of a certain 
part of the works that was under the charge 
of a young artillery captain. O11 learning that 
the officers name was Alexander Hamilton, he 
sought him out, for he had already heard of 
his superior abilities through General Greene. 

Hamilton was only nineteen years of age at 
this time, but the friendship thus begun between 
himself and Washington waxed stronger and 
deeper as the years passed on. 

Though naturally reserved, Washington was 
not haughty. The greatest and the smallest 
objects received from him a due attention, and 
he was utterly free from vain glory. 



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Declaration of Independence. 155 

When he was once asked if he had ever said, 
as was reported, that he knew no music so 
pleasing as the whistling of bullets, he replied: 

“ If I said so, it was when I was very young.” 

It was just about this time that Richard 
Henry Lee, of Virginia, made a motion in Con¬ 
gress for declaring the Colonies free and in¬ 
dependent. 

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin 
Franklin, Roger Sherman, and R. R. Living¬ 
ston, were soon after appointed to draw up a 
Declaration of Independence. Each was to pre¬ 
pare a separate paper, and the one which 
should prove most conformable to the wishes 
of the whole, was to be chosen as the report 
of the committee. The first paper read was 
Mr. Jefferson’s, and every member immediately 
suppressed his own, with the assertion that 
this one was beyond competition. 

Jefferson’s original draft, with all the erasures 
and interlinings, is still preserved, and may be 
seen in the Library of the State Department 
at Washington, together with the copy made 
from it, and signed by all the members. 
The two papers have been carefully framed 


156 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

and enclosed under glass in a pretty oak 
cabinet; but owing to the poorness of the 
ink, and the thoughtless handling of relic- 
hunters, before these precautions for its preser¬ 
vation, some of the writing is almost oblit¬ 
erated. 

It was on the fourth of July, 1776 , that this 
famous “Declaration” was adopted by Con¬ 
gress. When Washington received it, he imme¬ 
diately read it aloud to his troops, and not a 
little did the stirring words raise their droop¬ 
ing spirits. 

On the fourteenth of July, Admiral Howe who 
had just arrived with a powerful fleet to aid 
his brother, sent a flag of truce with a letter 
directed to “George Washington, Esq.” 

This letter Washington refused to receive, 
looking on it as an insult to Congress, under 
whom he had the honor to bear the commission 
of Commander-in-chief, and as such should 
have been addressed. 

Lord Howe then sent one of his officers, 
Colonel Patterson, to talk with him on the 
subject of reconciliation. The title of General , 
however, was still withheld, and as Lord Howe 


1NTEKVIEW OF HOWE’S MESSENGER WITH WASHINGTON 
























































































































































































































































































































































Declaration of Independence. 159 

merely offered the King’s pardon to her so- 
called rebellious subjects, Washington replied 
with great dignity: 

“We have committed no crimes against the 
King. We want no pardon. We are only 
fighting for our rights as the descendants of 
Englishmen.” 

Congress was greatly pleased by the conduct 
of Washington in this matter, and held it 
up as an example to any other officer who 
might be placed in a like situation. 

The British generals at once prepared for 
war, landing on Long Island at a point between 
the Narrows and Sandy Hook. 

They were at least fifteen thousand strong, 
and furnished with plenty of artillery; the 
Americans, on the other hand, numbered but 
five thousand, and were in a very destitute 
condition. 

Washington stationed on a hill, could sweep 
the whole field with his telescope. 

“ Good God! ” he exclaimed, when he wit¬ 
nessed the fearful slaughter, “ what brave fellows 
must I this day lose ! ” 

His worst fears were realized. Every thing 



160 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

went against the little handful of American 
troops. At one time it seemed as if the 


THE LANDING. 

British would sweep all before them, and prevent 
even a retreat. 

The next evening, however, there was a 
dense fog, and Washington ordered the re¬ 
mainder of his troops to take their baggage 
and artillery to the water side. Here it was 
taken over the broad ferry all night long with 
wonderful silence and rapidity. 








Declaration of Independence. 161 

By daybreak the whole army, much to the 
surprise and disappointment of the British, were 
safely landed on the other side. 

This defeat on Long Island was the begin¬ 
ning of a series of discouragements for the 
Americans. 

From New York they were obliged to re¬ 
treat over the Hudson to New Jersey, and then 
over the Delaware to Pennsylvania. 

“ How long, General Washington, shall we 
retreat ? ” said one of his officers ; “ where shall 
we stop ? ” 

“Why, sir,” replied Washington, “if we can 
do no better, we’ll retreat over every river in 
America; and last of all over the mountains, 
where we shall never lack opportunities to 
annoy, and finally, I hope, to expel the ene¬ 
mies of our country.” 

From the Falls of the Delaware, December 
10 th, he writes to Lund Washington : 

“ I wish to Heaven it was in my power to 
give you a more favorable account of our situa¬ 
tion than it is. Our numbers, quite inadequate 
to the task of opposing that part of the army 
under the command of General Howe, being 


162 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

reduced by sickness, desertion, and political 
deaths (on or before the first instant, and hay¬ 
ing no assistance from the militia), were obliged 
to retire before the enemy, who were perfectly 
well informed of our situation, till we came to 
this place, where I have no idea of being able 
to make a stand, as my numbers till joined by 
the Philadelphia militia, did not exceed three 
thousand men fit for duty. Now we may be 
about five thousand to oppose Howe’s whole 
army, that part of it- excepted which sailed 
under the command of General Clinton. 

“ I tremble for Philadelphia. Nothing, in my 
opinion, but General Lee’s speedy arrival, who 
has been long expected, though still at a dis¬ 
tance (with about three thousand men), can 
save it. 

u We have brought over and destroyed all the 
boats we could lay our hands on upon the Jer¬ 
sey shore for many miles above and below this 
place, but it is next to impossible to guard a 
shore for sixty miles with less than half the 
enemy’s numbers, when by force or stratagem 
they may suddenly attempt a passage in many 
different places. At present they are encamped 



Declaration of Independence. 163 

or quartered along the other shore above and 
below us (rather this place, for we are obliged 
to keep a face towards them) for fifteen miles.” 

December 17 th he adds a postscript, from ten 
miles above the Falls. 

“ I have since moved up to this place to be 
more convenient to our great and extensive 
defences of this river. Hitherto, by our destruc¬ 
tion of the boats, and vigilance in watching the 
fords of the river above the Falls (which are 
now rather high), we have prevented them from 
crossing; but how long we shall be able to do 
it God only knows, as they are still hovering 
about the river. And if every thing else fails, 
will wait till the first of January, when there 
will be no other men to oppose them but militia, 
none of which but those from Philadelphia, 
mentioned in the first part of the letter, are 
yet come (though I am told some are expected 
from the back counties). When I say none 
but militia, I am to except the Virginia regi¬ 
ments and the shattered remains of Smallwood’s, 
which, by fatigue, want of clothes, etc., are 
reduced to nothing; Weedon, which was the 
strongest, not having more than between one 


164 Young Folks T Life of Washington. 

hundred and thirty and one hundred and forty 
men fit for duty, the rest being in the hospi¬ 
tals. . 

“ Our cause has also received a severe blow 
in the captivity of General Lee. Unhappy man! 
Taken by his own imprudence, going three or 
four miles from his own camp, and within 
twenty of the enemy, notice of which by a ras¬ 
cally Tory was given, a party of light-horse 
seized him in the morning after travelling all 
night, and carried him off in high triumph and 
with every mark of indignity, not even suffer¬ 
ing him to get his hat or surtout coat. The 
troops that were under his command are not 
yet come up with us, though they I think may 
be expected to-morrow. A large part of the 
Jerseys have given every proof of disaffection 
that they can do, and this part of Pennsylvania 
are equally inimical. In short, your imagina¬ 
tion can scarce extend to a situation more dis¬ 
tressing than mine. Our only dependence now is 
upon the speedy enlistment of a new army. If 
this fails, I think the game will be pretty well 
up, as, from disaffection and want of spirit and 
fortitude, the inhabitants, instead of resistance, 



WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Declaration of Independence. 167 

are offering submission and taking protection 
from General Howe in Jersey.” 

It was the darkest hour in the whole strug 
gle for independence; many of Washington’s 
troops deserted him and went over to the 
enemy, and even Congress began to blame the 
Commander-in-chief for his seeming indecision. 

“No man, I believe,” he writes to his brother, 
“ever had a greater choice of difficulties, and 
less means to extricate himself from them. 
However, under a full persuasion of the justice 
of our cause, I cannot entertain an idea that 
it will finally sink, though it may remain 
for some time under a cloud.” 

After carefully watching the movements of 
the enemy and finding his own troops increased 
by the reinforcement from Ticonderoga, Wash¬ 
ington resolved to cross the Delaware and 
surprise the British forces at Trenton. 

Christmas Day was the time appointed for 
this attack, and the river at that time was full 
of floating ice. 

It was with much suffering and danger that 
the transit was made; but at four o’clock next 
morning, the entire army, amid a blinding storm 


168 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

of snow and hail, landed on the British side. 

Not only the troops but their ammunition 
were soaked with freezing water; still the one 
command came: 

“ Advance and charge ! ” 

At daybreak a countryman came out to chop 
wood for his fire, and one of Washington’s staff 
rode up and asked him where the picket guard 
of the British lay. 

“You need not be afraid to tell,” he added, 
“ for this is General Washington.” 

“ God bless and prosper you, sir,” said the 
farmer; “there they are, and just by the tree 
stands the sentry.” 

The American troops now moved quickly on, 
and the forces of the enemy taken entirely by 
surprise, and half-blinded by the storm, could 
make but a feeble resistance. 

They were mostly Hessian soldiers who had 
been hired by the British, and after the death 
of their commander, they gave themselves up 
as prisoners of war to the number of one 
thousand. 

It was a brilliant victory for the Americans, 
who lost only four men; and Washington, 


Declaration of Independence. 


169 


after re-crossing the Delaware, marched into 
Philadelphia with all his prisoners and the spoils 
of war, which included more than a thousand 
stand of arms. 

As soon as his troops were rested, Washing¬ 
ton again crossed the Delaware, and took up 
his post at Trenton. On the day after New 
Year’s, the British began their march toward 
the city. 

“Now is the time to make sure of Wash¬ 
ington,” said one of the British officers to Lord 
Cornwallis. 

“ Oh, well,” said he, “ our troops have marched 
a good way and are tired; the old fox can’t 
escape this time, for the Delaware is frozen, 
and we have him completely in our power. 
To-morrow morning we will fall upon him, and 
take him and his ragamuffins all at once.” 

“If Washington be the man I think him,” 
was the reply, “you’ll not see him to-morrow 
morning.” 

And so it proved ; for Washington after set¬ 
ting the night watch, and kindling a row of 
fires along the bank of the creek, sent hia 
baggage down to Burlington, and before day- 


I yo Young Folks Life of Washington. 

light safely landed his little army on the farther 
shor^, 

Meeting three British regiments at Princeton, 
he took three hundred more prisoners, and 
before going into winter quarters at Morristown, 
he had gained possession of all the enemy’s 
posts in New Jersey except New Brunswick 
and Amboy. 

“ Great news from the Jerseys! ” passed from 
lip to lip until the oft-repeated phrase became 
a proverb. 

The fame of Washington reached all the courts 
of Europe, where he was now called the 
“ American Fabius,” from the famous Roman 
general who opposed Hannibal with like strategy 
and like success. 

When the news was brought to the mother 
of Washington, and extracts from foreign papers 
shown her, she exclaimed: 

“ My good sirs, here is too much flattery; 
still George will not forget the lessons I early 
taught him — he will not forget himself, though 
he is the subject of so much praise.” 


WASHINGTON REVIEWING THE ARMY. 






































































































































































































































































. 






* 











CHAPTER XVI. 


ARRIVAL OF LAFAYETTE AND SURRENDER 
OF BURGOYNE. 

I T was just about this time that the young 
Marquis Lafayette came to this country. 
He was but eighteen years of age and his 
friends both in England and France tried to 
prevent what seemed to them a needless risk 
of life and liberty. He was the only one of 
our foreign allies who came without a guar¬ 
antee not only of pay, but of a large bonus 
before starting. The following interesting official 
paper may still be seen in the Silas Deane 
collection in the Smithsonian Institute: 

“ The wish that the Marquis de Lafayette 
has shown to serve in the army of the United 
States of North America, and the interest that 
he takes in the justice of their cause making 
him wish for opportunities to distinguish him- 
173 


174 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

self in the war, and to make himself useful 
to them as much as in him lies; but, not 
being able to obtain the consent of his family 
to serve in a foreign country and to cross the 
ocean, except on the condition that he should 
go as a general officer, I have believed that 
I could not serve my country and my superiors 
better than by granting to him, in the name 
of the very honorable Congress, the rank of 
major-general, which I beg the States to con¬ 
firm and ratify, and to send forward this com¬ 
mission to enable him to take and hold rank, 
counting from to-day, with the general officers 
of the same grade. His high birth, his con¬ 
nections, the great dignities held by his family 
at this court, his considerable possessions in 
this kingdom, his personal merit, his reputation, 
his disinterestedness, and, above all, his zeal for 
the freedom of our Colonies, have alone been 
able to induce me to make this promise of 
the said rank of major-general, in the name of 
the said United States. In witness of which 
I have signed these presents, done at Paris, 
this seventh of October, seventeen hundred and 
seventy-six.” 




STATUE OF LAFAYETTE IN 


NEW YORK CITY. 



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Arrival of Lafayette . 177 

Lafayette’s part of the contract reads as 
follows: 

“To the above conditions I agree, and promise 
to start when and how Mr. Deane shall judge 
it proper, to serve the said States with all pos¬ 
sible zeal, with no allowance nor private salary, 
reserving to myself only the right to return to 
Europe whenever my family or my king shall 
recall me. Done at Paris, this seventh day of 
October, 1776 . 

[Signed] 

THE MARQUIS LAFAYETTE. 

The campaign of the next year opened at 
the North. After various successes and defeats 
the Americans gained a signal victory at Ben¬ 
nington, Vermont. 

The battles of Stillwater and Saratoga soon 
followed. The British general Burgoyne found 
himself hemmed in at Saratoga on every side. 
His supply-boats were captured, his small stock 
of provisions was exhausted, and every day 
added to the distress of the famished army. The 
hoped-for aid from Sir Henry Clinton was not 
received, and on the seventeenth of October, 


178 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

1777 , General Burgoyne was obliged to surren¬ 
der with some six thousand men and a great 
deal of ammunition. 

It was agreed in the capitulation that the 
British should “ pile their arms, march out of 
their camp with the honors of war, and have free 
passage across the Atlantic.” This was allowed 
them on the condition that they would not 
carry arms again in America during the war. 

Meanwhile the American troops in New 
Jersey, through the blunder of a drunken 
officer, had suffered a mortifying defeat at Ger¬ 
mantown. It was one of the dark points in 
our history, and Washington speaking of it, 
says: “It was a bloody day. Would to God 
I could add that it had been a fortunate one 
for us.” 

In order to open a communication with their 
fleet which had sailed from the Chesapeake 
to the Delaware, the British now endeavored 
to take possession of Mud Island, which was 
defended by Fort Miflin and Fort Mercer, on 
Red Bank. A company of Hessians, therefore, 
under Colonel Donop, marched down the Jersey 
shore and attacked Fort Mercer, which was 



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Arrival of Lafayette. 181 

defended by four hundred men under General 
Greene. 

These German troops were repulsed with 
dreadful slaughter, and their wounded leader 
was left a prisoner on the field. 

Washington at once sent an officer from his 
camp to assure the gallant Donop of his per¬ 
sonal concern, and to offer him every attention 
that his situation might require. The messenger 
was also commissioned to remove the wounded 
man, should he so desire, to the British en¬ 
campment. 

“ Convey, sir, to General Washington,” was 
the reply, “ the deep impression of my grati¬ 
tude— my situation admits not at this time 
of a personal acknowledgment—but the first 
moments of my recovery, should such be the 
will of Heaven, shall be devoted to place 
before him the homage of my heart.” 

After a little skirmishing about Whitemarsh, 
where General Howe’s army was posted, the 
increasing coldness of the weather made it neces¬ 
sary to go into winter quarters at Valley Forge. 

This dreary place lay between the Schuylkill 
and a range of hills twenty miles from Phila- 


1 82 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

delphia. A few rough wooden buildings were 
put up here for the accommodation of the 
troops, but the winter proved unusually severe, 
and the sufferings of the poor half-starved sol¬ 
diers were beyond description. 

Shoes were a luxury enjoyed only by a 
fortunate few, and a single ragged blanket was 
shared by as many as could creep under it. 

Good Lady Washington, who passed this 
winter as she had all of the others, in camp, 
spent a great part of her time in knitting 
stockings and making shirts for the destitute 
troops. 

It is said that one day when Washington 
was riding up to the encampment, he was 
observed to be looking very earnestly upon 
the frozen ground. Calling the commanding 
officer to his side, he exclaimed: 

“ How comes it, sir, that I have tracked the 
march of your troops by the blood-stains of 
their feet upon the frozen ground? Were 
there no shoes in the commissary’s stores, that 
this sad spectacle is to be seen along the pub¬ 
lic highways.” 

“ Your Excellency may rest assured,” replied 



Arrival of Lafayette. 183 

the officer, “ that this sight is as painful to 

my feelings as it can be to yours; but there 

is no remedy within our reach. When the 
shoes were issued, the different regiments were 
served in turn ; it was our misfortune to be 
among the last to be served, and the stores 
became exhausted before we could obtain even 
the smallest supply.” 

“Poor fellows!” exclaimed Washington, as, 
with tears in his eyes, he rode slowly back 
to his quarters. 

Mr. Potts, the Quaker who owned the house 
at Valley Forge where Washington lodged, 
writes that one day when strolling up the 

creek, he heard a solemn voice. Walking 

softly in that direction, he saw Washington’s 
horse tied to a sapling. I11 the grove near 
by he could see the noble form of the great 
man kneeling in prayer, his face bathed in 
tears. Relating the touching incident to his 
wife, he exclaimed : 

“ If there is any one on this earth to whom the 
Lord will listen, it is to General Washington; 
and I feel a presentiment that under such a 
commander there can be no doubt of our 


184 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

eventually establishing our independence, and 
that God in his providence hath willed it so.” 

As soon as the spring opened, the camp at 
Valley Forge was broken up. 

Sir Henry Clinton, who succeeded Gen¬ 
eral Howe in the command of the British 
forces, had suddenty left Philadelphia, and 
Washington and his troops pursued them to 
Monmouth Court House, where a sharp con¬ 
test took place. 

Just as Washington and his aids drew near 
the Court House, he was met by a fifer boy, 
who said, as if it were the most natural 
thing in the world: “ They are all coming this 

way, your Honor ! ” 

“Who are coming, my little man?” asked 
General Knox. 

“Why, our boys, your Honor, our boys, and 
the British right after them.” 

“Impossible!” exclaimed Washington; but 
spurring his horse to a full gallop, he found 
to his great pain and mortification, that the 
boy’s tidings were only too true. 

It was all the fault of Major-General Lee, 
who had disobeyed orders. 

























































































































































































. 













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Arrival of Lafayette. 


187 


Washington was greatly annoyed, and the 
disobedient, insolent officer was put under 
the sentence of a court-martial. 

It was at this battle of Monmouth that 
“ Captain Molly,” as she was called by the 
soldiers, distinguished herself. Six men had 
been killed or wounded at one of the guns 
of Proctor’s battery, and the husband of Cap¬ 
tain Molly, who was a matross in this artillery, 
had just received a shot in the head and fallen 
lifeless under the unlucky gun. 

Throwing down the pail of water she had 
brought the soldiers, Captain Molly seized the 
ramrod from her husband’s hands, sent home the 
charge, and called to the other matrosses to prime 
and fire. After this was done, she put the sponge 
into the smoking muzzle of the cannon, per¬ 
formed all the duties of an artillery-man, and kept 
to her post until night closed the bloody conflict. 

When Washington was told of her bravery, 
he conferred upon her the commission of ser¬ 
geant, which her husband held, and her name 
was afterwards, through his influence, placed 
upon the list of half-pay officers for life. 

Lafayette, who commanded one of the divis- 


188 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

ions, writes to a friend at this time: “ I 

was pretty well occupied, as may be sup¬ 
posed ; still I took time, amid the roar and 
confusion, to admire our beloved chief, who 
rode along the lines mounted on a splendid 
charger, amid the shouts of the soldiers, cheer¬ 
ing them by his voice and example, and restor¬ 
ing the fortunes of the fight. I thought then, 
as now, that I had never beheld so superb a man.” 

Washington never seemed to spare himself. 
Exposed that day to a burning sun (the 
thermometer stood at ninety-six degrees), he 
rode backwards and forwards, encouraging his 
soldiers to “stand fast and receive the enemy,” 
until his horse sank under him, and died on 
the spot. Mounting another, a shell burst but 
a little distance from him, covering his uniform 
with dust, and then bounding harmlessly away. 

Often the bullets razed his hair and riddled his 
cloak, but as the old Indian who saw him at 
Braddock’s defeat, said: “ Washington was not 
born to be killed in battle. I had seventeen 
fair fires at him with my rifle, and after all 
could not bring him to the ground. The Great 
Spirit protects him.” 


CHAPTER XVII. 


COUNT D ESTAING, AND THE CAMPAIGN 

of 1778 - 79 . 

N the first day of July, 1778 , Washington 



proceeded with his army towards the 
Hudson. Count D’Estaing, with a fleet of 
twelve ships of the line, and six frigates, had 
been sent out by France to the assistance of 
the Americans. He hoped to blockade the 
British in the Delaware, and entered the mouth 
of that river on the eighth of June. Finding 
that Admiral Howe had left Philadelphia for 
New York, he proceeded to that city, but the 
large size of his ships prevented an engagement. 

Washington desired to make the utmost of 
this reinforcement from France,' and planned an 
expedition against Rhode Island, detaching for 
this purpose a force of ten thousand troops 
under General Sullivan, with whom were after- 


190 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

wards associated Generals Green and Lafayette. 

The French fleet under D’Estaing arrived off 
Newport on the twenty-fifth of July, and the 
agreement had been made that while they were 
landing on the north part of the island, the 
Americans would land at the same time on 
the opposite side. By this cooperation of forces 
the British army at Newport, under General 
Pigot, could have been easily captured; but 
while the fleet lay at anchor in the harbor, 
Lord Howe suddenly appeared in sight, and 
Count D’Estaing immediately left General 
Sullivan to give chase to the British Admiral. 
When he returned his whole fleet was in a 
shattered condition, and instead of cooperating 
with the American forces at Newport, he sailed 
on to Boston to refit * his vessels. 

The disastrous result of this expedition against 
Rhode Island produced a great deal of hard 
feeling between the Americans and their allies; 
but Washington, by “pouring oil upon the 
troubled waters,” prevented an open rupture. 

The Commander-in-chief had a great deal to 
try him at this time, and Lafayette, always his 
helper and sympathizing friend, thought it best 



Cowit Lf Estaing. 


191 

to return to France and represent in person 
the American cause at Court. 

But little decisive fighting was done that 
year, and at the close of the autumn, Wash¬ 
ington went into winter quarters at Middlebrook. 

Here the. long months were now and then 
enlivened by his favorite amusement of hunting. 

“ Come, Cornelius,” he would say to a boy of 
fifteen that used to wait on him, and was a 
son of the owner of a house he had occupied, 
“come, the day is so fine, suppose we see if 
we can’t find some squirrels this morning ? ” 
And taking their rifles, the two would travel 
off for miles together through the Pennsylvania 
woods. 

Five weeks were passed in Philadelphia dur¬ 
ing the conference of Congress, and in a letter 
to one of his friends Washington says: “ Were 
I to give way to private conveniency and amuse¬ 
ment, I should not be able to resist the 
invitation of my friends to make Philadelphia, 
instead of a squeezed-up room or two, my 
quarters for the winter. 

“ But the affairs of the army require my 
constant attention and presence, and call for 


192 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

some degree of care and address to keep it 
from crumbling.” 

Now, as always, his ardent patriotism recon¬ 
ciled Washington to “ any place and all circum¬ 
stances.” 

As soon as the campaign opened in the spring 
( 1779 ), Sir Henry Clinton tried to get command 
of the Hudson. 

He had already gained possession of Stony 
Point and Verplanck’s Point; and so Washing¬ 
ton moved to New Windsor, a few miles above 
West Point, to prevent him from taking any 
more posts on the Hudson. 

Meanwhile the enemy tried every possible 
stratagem to draw Washington away from New 
Windsor. 

They plundered the villages on Long Island 
Sound, destroyed dwelling-houses, shops, churches, 
schoolhouses, and even the shipping in the har¬ 
bor. The horrors of war were now shown in 
some of their most revolting forms; but much 
as Washington longed to help the sufferers, he 
knew his presence was still more necessary in 
guarding the Hudson. 

O11 the night of the fifteenth of July, Stony 




CAPTURE OF STONY POINT 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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Count D'Estaing. 195 

Point was re-taken, under his orders, by Gen¬ 
eral Wayne. 

In writing to Congress about the affair, Wash¬ 
ington with his usual generosity and justice, 
says : 

“ General Wayne improved upon the plan 
suggested by me, and executed in a manner 
that does signal honor to his judgment and to 
his bravery. Every officer and man of the 
corps deserves great credit; but there were 
particular ones whose situation placed them 
foremost in danger, and made their conduct 
more conspicuous.” 

The value of the ordnance and stores taken 
at this time amounted to $158,640.00; and this 
was divided among the troops in proportion to 
the pay of the officers and men. 

Wayne, Fleury, and Stewart, the three officers 
whose bravery at this time was noticeabty 
praiseworthy, received eacli a medal from Con¬ 
gress ; and Washington’s share was a vote of 
thanks “for the vigilance, wisdom and magna¬ 
nimity with which he had conducted the mil¬ 
itary operations of the States, particularly on 
the occasion of the late attack.” 


196 Young Folks Life of Washington . 


Washington now removed his troops to his 
headquarters on the Hudson, where he remained 
for the rest of the season. 

The quaint Dutch house at Newburgh, 



Washington’s headquarters at newburgh. 


occupied by Washington, was dedicated to the 
public service on the Fourth of July, 1850 , 
General Winfield Scott hoisting the American 
flag upon the spot. Just at the foot of the 


















Count D' Estaiug. 


197 


flag staff, the last survivor of Washington’s 
life-guard is buried. 

The house remains almost the same as when 
occupied by the Commander-in-chief. The front 
door opens into a large square room, used by 
Washington as a dining-hall, and also as a 
reception-room for his public audiences. 

One day after Lafayette’s return to France, 
he was invited with the American minister and 
several of his countrymen, to dine at the house 
of Marbois, who was the French secretary of 
legation to America during the Revolutionary war. 

After dinner the company were shown into 
a room that offered a strange contrast to the 
elegant apartments they had just left. The 
low-posted, painted ceiling was supported by 
large beams, and the small window with no 
curtain, the multiplicity of doors, and the whole 
general style of the room, reminded one of a 
Dutch kitchen. 

On a long, rough table was placed a large 
platter of meat, heavy-looking pastry, and an 
array of curious silver mugs. 

“ Do you know where we are now ? ” asked 
Marbois. 


198 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

The guests paused a moment. The place 
seemed familiar, but where and when had they 
seen its counterpart ? 

Suddenly Lafayette exclaimed : 

“ Ah! the seven doors and one window, 
and the silver camp-gob 1 ets, such as the mar¬ 
shals of France used in my youth ! Gentlemen, 
do you not perceive we are at Washington’s 
headquarters in Newburgh?” 

Sir Henry Clinton seemed to be growing 
very tired of his position. 

44 The precautions,” he writes home to England, 
44 that General Washington has had leisure to 
take (he had learned now to say General Wash¬ 
ington), make me hopeless of bringing him to 
a general action.” 

The 44 Fabian policy” was beginning to pro¬ 
duce just the effect that Washington had hoped, 
in 44 wearying the enemy, causing them an 
enormous expense, and putting far off the hope 
of subduing a people so persistent and so pa¬ 
tient in their defence.” 

One of the worst evils at this time was the 
low value of our paper money. One silver dol¬ 
lar was worth forty, and at last seventy-five in 


Count U Es'tawrg. 


199 


bills. A pair of boots cost six hundred dollars 
in continental money ! The credit of Congress 
was still more injured by counterfeit bills 
which the British began to circulate, and which 
were so like the genuine it was almost impos¬ 
sible to tell them apart. 

The continental money grew more and more 
worthless, till at last Robert Morris, a wealthy 
citizen of Philadelphia, established a bank which 
was so useful that Congress pledged the faith 
of the United States to sustain it. 

Throughout the Revolutionary War, Robert 
Morris was the great financier who managed 
to obtain money for the cause, even under the 
worst circumstances. He would often pledge 
his own personal credit for it when the public 
credit was worth almost nothing, and it has 
often been said that without him even Wash¬ 
ington’s efforts as commander-in-chief would have 
been of no avail. 

The following anecdote of Washington’s happy 
faculty in settling difficulties, is told by a 
Revolutionary hero : 

“ C. S., o*ie of the contractors for supplying 
the American army, then (1780) stationed 


200 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

at West Point, with fresh provisions, had, on 
several occasions, when the high price of cattle 
threatened to make the fulfillment of the 
terms of the contract not quite so lucrative as 
was by him originally calculated, failed to 
furnish the requisite supply, and in lieu thereof, 
ad interim gave to the quartermaster of each 
regiment a certificate specifying that there was 
due to such regiments so many rations of beef, 
etc. 

“ These certificates did pretty well for a 
while, and the privation was borne with character¬ 
istic patience by a soldiery accustomed to hard¬ 
ships, and ready to endure any thing in the 
cause of liberty and their country. But even 
patience has its limits; the cause of the 
omission became at last understood, and dis¬ 
satisfaction manifested itself throughout the 
ranks. Remonstrances from the subordinate 
officers had been repeatedly made, and prom¬ 
ises of amendment readily and repeatedly given, 
till at last, finding that nothing but promises 
came, ‘it was found necessary to complain to 
the Commander-in-chief. 

“Washington after hearing the story, gave 


Count D'Estaing. 


201 


immediate orders for the arrest of Mr. S. 

Upon his being brought into camp and placed 
under guard, the officer having him in charge 
waited upon the General to apprise him of the 
fact, and to inquire in what way and by 

whom the prisoner was to be fed. 

“‘Give yourself no trouble, sir,’ said Wash¬ 
ington, 4 the gentleman will be supplied from 
my table.’ 

“ The several hours of breakfast, dinner and 
supper, passed, but not a mouthful was fur¬ 
nished to the delinquent prisoner. On the 

ensuing day, at an early hour in the morning, 
a waiter in the livery of the General, was 
seen bearing upon a silver salver all the seem¬ 
ing requisites for a meal carefully covered, and 
wending his way to the prisoner’s room. Upon 
raising the cover, besides the apparatus for 

breakfast, there was found nothing more than 
a certificate that there was due to Mr. C. S. 
one breakfast, one dinner, and one supper, 
and signed G. Washington. 

44 After the lapse of a reasonable time, the 
delinquent was conveyed to headquarters, when 
Washington, in his peculiarly significant and 


202 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

emphatic way, addressed him with: ‘Well, Mr. 
S., I presume that by this time you are per¬ 
fectly convinced how inadequate to satisfy the 
cravings of hunger is the certificate of a meal. 
I trust after this you will furnish no further 
occasion of complaint.’ 

“Then inviting Mr. S. to share in the meal 
to which he was just sitting down, he im¬ 
proved the lesson by some friendly admoni¬ 
tions, and gave the order for his discharge.” 

On the thirteenth of July (1780) a French 
re-enforcement which had been sent to America 
through the influence of Lafayette, arrived at 
Newport. These troops were composed of 
“picked men,” chosen from the most ancient 
and renowned regiments of the kingdom, and 
were commanded by officers who were almost 
without exception of high birth. They were 
well armed and elegantly equipped, the uniform 
of the officers only differing from those of the 
soldiers in the color of the cloth. The grena¬ 
diers wore red plumes; the chasseurs white and 
green. The artillery wore iron-gray coats, with 
lapels of red velvet. 

The Americans were delighted with the fine 



















































































































































































, 






































































1 * 


** 











































































Count D' Estaing. 


205 


equipments and martial array of their allies, and 
the French were surprised at the admirable 
discipline of the American troops. The Abbe 
Robin thus writes of the Federal army at this 
time : 

“ They have no regular uniform. The artil¬ 
lery corps alone are uniformed. Several regi¬ 
ments have small white-fringed casaques, the 
effect of which is sightly enough; their long, 
wide, linen pantaloons neither incommode them 
nor interfere with the play of their limbs on 
the march, yet with a nourishment much less 
substantial than our own, and a temperament 
much less vigorous, for this reason alone, 
perhaps, they support fatigue much better than 
our troops.” 

Kosciusko, the brave Polish patriot, was 
only a little over twenty years of age when 
he came to America. 

With a recommendation from Franklin, he 
came to Washington and asked for employment. 

“What can you do?” asked the General. 

“ Try me,” he answered. The laconic reply 
pleased Washington, and it was not long before 
Kosciusko received the appointment of colonel 


206 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

in the engineering corps, and aid-de-camp to 
the chief. 

A beautiful white marble monument was 
erected to his memory near the ruins of Fort 
Clinton, by the West Point cadets. 














CHAPTER XVIII. 


THE TREASON OF BENEDICT ARNOLD. 
HILE Washington was conferring with 



Count de Rochambeau, who commanded 


the French troops, Benedict Arnold was left 
in charge of West Point and other posts 
commanding the Highlands. General Greene 
was at the head of the main body of troops 
at Tappan, which as Washington writes, “were 
almost perishing for want, alternately without 
bread or meat, with a very scanty allowance 
of either — frequently destitute of both.” 

It was at this time that Arnold made up his 
mind to betray his country. At Quebec and 
Stillwater he had proved himself a brave sol¬ 
dier, but when after the evacuation of Phila¬ 
delphia he was entrusted with the command 
of the city, he was found guilty of dishonesty. 
He was tried by a court martial and reprb 


207 


208 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

manded by Washington. This disgrace rankled 
in his breast, and lio sooner had he obtained 
the command of West Point than lie began a 
secret correspondence with Sir Henry Clinton, 
offering to betray the fortress into his hands at 
the earliest opportunity. 

The British regarded West Point as the most 
important post on the Hudson, and believed 
that its capture would put an end to the so- 
called “ rebellion.” 

Clinton therefore accepted the traitor’s offer 
very gladly, and sent Major Andre to confer 
with him. 

At midnight Andre came up the Hudson in 
a sloop-of-war as far as Haverstraw Bay. Here 
he landed on the west side of the river, where 
Arnold was waiting for him. The papers giv¬ 
ing the conditions of surrender were handed 
to Andre, and at dawn he was sent by Arnold 
to a house within the American lines, where 
he stayed until the evening. While here he was 
persuaded to change his regimentals for a citi¬ 
zen’s dress. The papers were concealed in his 
stockings, and the bargain having been con¬ 
cluded, Arnold gave Andre a pass, with which 



COUNT I)E ROCHAMKEAU 









































The Treason of Benedict Arnold. 


21 


in the evening he set out for New York City. 

Major Andre was a brave young officer, and 
in undertaking the per¬ 
ilous journey, he had 
not thought of himself, 
but simply of his duty 
to the sovereign under 
whose colors he served. 

The traitor Arnold, on 
the contrary, was be¬ 
traying his country and 
seeking to enrich him¬ 
self thereby. The con¬ 
ditions of the surrender 
were that he (Arnold) should receive ten thou¬ 
sand pounds in money, and the rank of brigadier- 
general in the British army. 

Major Andre under the disguise of “ John 
Anderson,” reached the neighborhood of Tarry- 
town in safety; but there almost within sight 
of the British lines, he was met and stopped by 
three young men of the militia, Paulding, Van 
Wart and Williams. 

Supposing they were royalists, Andre declared 
himself a British officer. Then discovering his 



MAJOR ANDRE. 


212 


Young Folks Life of Washington. 


mistake, he showed them Arnold’s pass. This 
aroused their suspicions, and they insisted upon 
searching his person. The important papers 
were soon found, and he was immediately ar¬ 
rested. Meanwhile the traitor Arnold had 
escaped to the British lines. 

Washington, who was at once informed of 
what had happened, endeavored to exchange 
Andre as a prisoner of war for Arnold, but he 
was unsuccessful. Clinton would gladly have 
done this, for Major Andre was one of his favor¬ 
ite officers; but, according to the usages of 
war, he could not honorably break liis faith even 
with a traitor. 

Andre’s sad fate excited the sympathies of 
the Americans as well as the British; but 
the disguise he had so unfortunately assumed, 
branded him as a spy. and Washington’s efforts 
to save him were all unavailing. After a court 
martial he was pronounced guilty, and executed 
at the headquarters at Tappan. The three 
brave men who had arrested him were re¬ 
warded by Congress with a silver medal and 
a pension of two hundred dollars a year. 

The old house at Tappan, Washington’s head- 





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Sss 1 

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pi 

'SSufi: 















































The Treason of Benedict Arnold. 215 

quarters when he signed the order for Andre’s 
execution, is still standing, and the room that 
Washington occupied remains almost the same 
£ as when he left it. The wooden pegs where 
he hung his hat and military cloak, the old 
fireplace with its quaint Dutch tiles, the 
western window whose blinds were closed by 
Washington’s order on the day of the execu¬ 
tion — all bring vividly to mind those eventful 
and trying eight days. There is a pleasant 
little tradition connected with his stay in this 
neighborhood, which is recorded as follows: 

“ The grandmother of Colonel Harring of 
Tappan, who daily visited the American camp 
on occasions of kindness, found one day a 
soldier under sentence of death for desertion. 
He earnestly entreated her intercession in his 
behalf.' She called early the next morning at 
headquarters, and met the officer of the day, 
who informed her that General Washington 
was then at family worship, but as soon as 
she saw the front door open, and the General 
walking to and fro through the hall, she could 
enter. 

“ After waiting a few moments she saw him 


216 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 


approach the door. She went up to him 
and made known her errand. He listened to 
her kindly and said: 

“‘Madam, I would willingly do any thing in 
my power to please you, but your request is 
a hard one; I am afraid he is a bad man; 
for your sake, however, I will see what can 
be done.’ 

“The next morning when she visited the 
camp, she was overwhelmed with demonstra¬ 
tions from the man whose life she had saved. 
The sequel showed the correctness of Wash¬ 
ington’s judgment. The man again deserted, 
was recaptured and shot.” 

Benedict Arnold after doing all the injury 
he could, sailed for England ; but he was 
treated as he deserved, with universal contempt. 
In his own country his very name was detested. 

“I was born in America,” he said many 
years afterwards to a French statesman. “I 
lived there to the prime of my life; but, 
alas! I can call no man in America my 
friend.” 


WATCH GIVEN LAFAYETTE BY WASHINGTON 


i 



































































CHAPTER XIX. 


THE SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. 



T 


k HE English fleet 
under Admiral 
Arbuthnot, and the 
French one under M. 
Destouches, M. de Tilly 
and the Count de Ro- 
chambeau, kept up a 
warm contest on the 
Chesapeake, and Lafay¬ 
ette who had just re¬ 
turned from France, 
was sent with twelve hundred men to join 
General Greene at the South. 

Finding the troops under his command suf¬ 
fering as usual from lack of clothing, Lafayette 
with noble liberality pledged his own credit 
for a proper supply. 


COUNT DE Gr BASSE. 


220 Young- Folks Life of Washington . 

In July, 1781, the combined armies of the 
United States and the French allies, made prep¬ 
arations for a descent upon New York. Count 
de Grasse, with a large fleet and more than 
three thousand men, was in the West Indies 
and Washington was very desirous that he 
should sail fur Sandy Hook, and unite with the 
land forces in this attack. 

But before a despatch could reach the French 
admiral, he had sailed with his entire force for 
the Chesapeake. This changed Washington’s 
plan. The French and American armies imme¬ 
diately set out for Virginia, leaving only a few 
companies of troops to defend the Hudson. 

Lord Cornwallis was still in Virginia where 
Lafayette was hindering his progress as much 
as possible. 

Washington and Rochambeau resolved to join 
Lafayette without delay, and reached Williams¬ 
burg, in Virginia, on the fourteenth of September. 

On the twenty-eighth of the month, the allied 
armies of the French and Americans drew up their 
lines before Yorktown, where Lord Cornwallis 
was entrenched. 

Four British vessels in the harbor were set 



The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. 


221 


on fire by a discharge of red-hot balls, and 
two redoubts of the enemy were stormed and 
carried, one by the Americans and the other 
by the French. 

Cornwallis saw but one chance of escape. 
On the opposite bank of the York River was 
Gloucester Point, defended by some two thou¬ 
sand Frenchmen. The British general resolved 
to destroy his baggage, leave his sick and 
wounded, and, transporting his army across the 
river under cover of the night, force a passage 
through the French lines, and proceed by rapid 
marches to Clinton. 

The night of October 16th was appointed 
for this desperate attempt. The first company 
of British soldiers landed safely on the Glou¬ 
cester side, but a sudden storm of wind and 
rain drove the second division down the river. 
It was impossible to get the rest of the army 
across, and those who had landed, after being 
exposed for hours to the storm, were brought 
back to Yorktown. Cornwallis saw that he was 
checkmated. Further resistance was useless, and 
the next day he sent a messenger to Washing¬ 
ton, offering him terms of capitulation. 


222 Young Folks Life of Washington. 


From the journal of Dr. Thatcher, a surgeon 
in Washington’s army, we give the following 
extracts: 

“Oct. 17, 1781:—The scene is drawing to a 
close. Lord Cornwallis at length realizing the 



the mooke house. 

extreme hazard of his deplorable situation, and 
finding it m vain any longer to resist, has 
this morning come to the humiliating expedient 
of sending out a flag requesting a cessation 
of hostilities for twenty-four hours, that com¬ 
missioners may be appointed to prepare and 









The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. 223 

adjust the terms of capitulation. Two or three 
flags passed in the course of the day, and 
General Washington consented to a cessation 
of hostilities for two hours only, that his lord- 
ship may suggest his proposals as a basis for 
a treaty which being in part accepted, a sus¬ 
pension of hostilities will be continued until 
to-morrow. 

44 Oct. 19th:—This is to us a most glorious 
day, but to the English one of bitter chagrin 
and disappointment. Preparations are now 
making to receive as captives that vindictive, 
haughty commander, and that victorious army 
who by their robberies and murders have, so 
long been a scourge to our brethren of the 
Southern States. . . . The stipulated terms 

of capitulation are similar to those granted to 
General Lincoln, at Charlestown, the last year. 
The captive troops are to march out with 
shouldered arms, colors cased, and drums beat¬ 
ing a British or German march, and to ground 
their arms at a place assigned for the purpose. 
The officers are allowed their side-arms and 
private property, and the generals and such 
officers as desire it, are to go on parole to 


224 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

England or New York. The marines and sea¬ 
men of the King’s ships are prisoners of war 
to the navy of France, and the land forces to 
the United States. All military and artillery 
stores to be delivered up unimpaired. The 
royal prisoners to be sent into the interior of 
Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, in regi¬ 
ments, to have rations allowed them equal to 
the American soldiers, and to have their offi¬ 
cers near them. Lord Cornwallis to man and 
despatch the Bonetta , sloop-of-war, with des¬ 
patches to Sir Henry Clinton, at New York, 
without being searched; the vessel to be 
returned and the hands accounted for. 

“ At about twelve o’clock, the combined army 
was arranged and drawn up in two lines 
extending more than a mile in length. The 
Americans were drawn up in a line on the 
right side of the road, and the French occu¬ 
pied the left. At the head of the former the 
great American commander, mounted on his 
noble courser, took his station, attended by his 
aids. At the head of the latter were posted 
the excellent Count Rochambeau and his suite. 
The French troops in complete uniform dis- 






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CORNWALLIS, 













The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. 227 

played a martial and noble appearance; their 
band of music, of which the timbrel formed a 
part, is a delightful novelty, and produced 
while marching to the ground, a most enchant¬ 
ing effect. The Americans, though not all in 
uniform, nor their dress so neat, yet exhibited 
an erect, soldierly air, and every countenance 
beamed with satisfaction and joy. The con¬ 
course of spectators from the country was 
prodigious; in point of numbers probably equal 
to the military ; but universal silence and order 
prevailed. It was about two o’clock when the 
captive army advanced through the line formed 
for their reception. Every eye was prepared 
to gaze on Lord Cornwallis, the object of 
peculiar interest and solicitude; but he disap¬ 
pointed our anxious expectations; pretending 
indisposition, he made General O’Hara his 
substitute as leader of his army. This officer 
was followed by the conquered troops in a 
slow and solemn step, with shouldered arms, 
colors cased, and drums beating a British 
march. Having arrived at the head of the 
line, General O’Hara, elegantly mounted, ad¬ 
vanced to His Excellency, the Commander-in- 


228 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 


chief, taking off his hat, and apologized for 
the non-appearance of Earl Cornwallis. With 
his usual dignity and politeness, His Excellency 
pointed to Major-General Lincoln for directions, 
by whom the British army was conducted into 
a spacious field, where it was intended they 
should ground their arms. 

“ After having grounded their arms and 
divested themselves of their accoutrements, the 
captive troops were conducted back to York- 
town, and guarded by our troops till they 
could be removed to the place of their desti¬ 
nation. The British troops that were stationed 
at Gloucester surrendered at the same time 
and in the same manner, to the command of 
Duke de Lauzun. This must be a veiy inter¬ 
esting and gratifying transaction to General 
Lincoln, who having himself been obliged to 
surrender an army to a haughty foe the last 
year, has now assigned him the pleasing duty 
of giving laws to a conquered army in return, 
and of reflecting that the terms which were 
imposed on him are adopted as a basis of the 
surrender in the present instance.” 


SURRENDER OF THE BRITISH STANDARDS AT 





















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. 231 



The prisoners were very kindly treated by 
their conquerors, but the British leader could 
not forget his humil¬ 
iation. 

At one time he 
was standing near 
Washington with his 
hat off. 

“ My lord,” said 
Washington, “you 
had better be cov¬ 
ered from the cold.” 

“It matters not, 
sir,” replied Corn¬ 
wallis, putting his 
hand to his brow; 

“it matters not what 
becomes of this head 
now.” 

Colonel Tilghman, 
one of Washington’s 
aides, bore the glad 
tidings of Cornwallis’ surrender to Philadelphia. 
It was midnight when he reached the house 
of the President of Congress, and he knocked 


232 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

so loudly that a watchman was on the point 
of arresting him. 

In another moment the cry of “ Cornwallis 
is taken!" was shouted through all the streets, 
and the old liberty bell on the State House 
rang for hours. 

The people could hardly contain themselves 
for joy, for every one felt that peace was close 
at hand. 

The thanks of Congress were presented to each 
of the commanders, and to all the other officers 
and soldiers. Counts de Grasse and de Rocham- 
beau received each two pieces of the English 
cannon, and General Washington two standards 
of colors. 

• To Colonel Tilghman a fine horse and sword 
were given ; and Washington felt so grateful 
to the French allies, that he went on board 
the admiral’s ship to present as a personal gift 
from himself a pair of very fine horses. 

Lafayette’s heirs show a large hunting watch 
which was given by Washington to the Marquis 
at this time as a memento of the great 
victory. 

Religious services were performed in the 


t 







OLD LIBERTY BELI 
























The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. 235 


several brigades and divisions, and all who were 
under military arrest were released. 

Lord Fairfax, whose estate Washington had 
surveyed when he was a young man, was now 
over ninety years of age. He was still a 
stanch loyalist, and when he heard that 
Washington had captured Cornwallis and all 
his army, he called out to his black waiter: 

“Come, Joe! carry me to my bed, for I’m 
sure it’s high time for me to die! ” 

And in the words of the old ballad: 


Then up rose Joe, all at the word, 

And took his master’s arm, 

And to his bed he softly led 
The lord of Greenway farm. 

Then thrice he called on Britain’s name, 
And thrice he wept full sore; 

Then sighed, ‘O, Lord, thy will be done!” 
And word spake never more. 


CHAPTER XX. 


INCIDENTS OP THE SIEGE AT YORKTOWN. 

ORKTOWN in 1781 contained about 



X sixty houses, together with a number 
of public buildings, as it was then the shire 
town of York County. In the earliest history 
of our country it is mentioned as one of the 
frontier forts, and before the Revolution it 
was the one port from which Virginia shipped 
her tobacco. A fire nearly destroyed the town 
in 1814, and it is now a small country village 
with little to mark it save the glorious history 
of the past. 

At the time of the siege Cornwallis occupied 
the high ground beyond Yorktown, half a mile 
on the Williamsburg road. 

From Dr. Thatcher’s journal, a few days 
previous to the capitulation, we read as follows: 

“Sept. 80th:—We were agreeabty surprised 


DEATH OK SCAM MELT 




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Incidents of the Siege at Yorktown. 239 

this morning to find that the enemy had dur¬ 
ing the preceding night abandoned three or 
four of their redoubts, and retired within the 
town, leaving a considerable extent of com¬ 
manding ground which might have cost us 
much labor and many lives to obtain by force. 
Our light infantry and a party of French 
were ordered to advance and take possession 
of the abandoned ground, and to serve as a 
covering party to our troops who are employed 

in throwing up breastworks.An occurrence 

has just been announced which fills our hearts 
with grief and sorrow. Colonel Alexander 
Seammell being officer of the day, while recon¬ 
noitring the ground which the enemy had 
abandoned, was surprised by a party of their 
horse, and, after having surrendered, they had 
the baseness to inflict a wound which we fear 
will prove mortal; they have carried him into 
Yorktown.” 

A few days later, we read: 

“It is with much concern that we learn that 
Colonel Seammell died at Williamsburg, of the 
wound which he received a few days since 
when he was taken prisoner; the wound was 



240 Young Folks Life of Washington . 


inflicted after he surrendered. At the request 
of General Washington, Lord Cornwallis allowed 
him to be carried to Williamsburg, where he 



PLACE WHERE SCAMMELL WAS KILLED. 


has since died, universally lamented, as he was 
while living universally respected and esteemed. 
The Commander-in-chief was well apprized of 
his merit, and bestowed on him marks of 
Lis friendly regard and confidence. For some 
time he sustained the office of adjutant-general 
to our army, but preferring a more active com¬ 
mand and the post of danger, he was put at 
the head of a regiment of light infantry for 
this enterprising campaign.” 

“ A captain of our infantry,” writes Dr. 




Incidents of the Siege at Yorktown. 241 

Thatcher further, “ threatened to take the life 
of Major Campbell, to avenge the death of his 
favorite, Colonel Scammell, but Colonel Hamil¬ 
ton interposed, and not a man was killed after 
he ceased to resist. During the assault the 
British kept up an incessant firing of cannon 
and musketry from their whole line. His Excel¬ 
lency General Washington, Generals Lincoln and 
Knox, with their aids, having dismounted, were 
standing in an exposed situation waiting the 
result. Colonel Cobb, one of General Washing¬ 
ton’s aids, solicitous for his safety, said to His 
Excellency, 4 Sir, you are too much exposed 
here; had you not better step a little back ? ’ 
‘“Colonel Cobb,’ replied His Excellency, ‘if 
you are afraid, you have liberty to step back.’ ” 
Dr. JSneas Munson who attended Dr. Thatcher 
as surgeon’s mate, wrote of the siege as follows: 

“ On the attack of the two advanced redoubts 
of the British on the night of the fifteenth, 
in a great measure depended the result of the 
siege. Washington surrounded by a group of 
officers, among whom was our informant, stood 
in the grand battery looking through the embra¬ 
sures, while the two divisions of the attacking 


242 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

party advanced to the assault. Colonel Alex¬ 
ander Hamilton led on the Americans with 
empty muskets and fixed bayonets. When he 
arrived at the right redoubt which he was to 
attack, he made a short but eloquent address, 
which was distinctly heard by the silent but 
deeply interested witness in the grand battery. 

“ Shortly after the French officer arrived 
with his division before the other redoubt, when 
he was challenged by the sentinel: 

“Sentinel — Who comes there? 

“ French Officer — French. 

“ Sentinel — Mistakes it for ‘ friend ’ and again 
demands — Who comes there ? 

“ French Officer — French grenadiers and chas¬ 
seurs, s-h-a-r-g-e ! s-h-a-r-g-e ! S-H-A-R-G-E ! 

“ The word charge was drawled out with so 
much deliberation, and with such imperfect pro¬ 
nunciation, as to excite hearty laughter from the 
witnesses in the grand battery. The clash of 
bayonets succeeded, and the next morning the 
trenches were seen filled five or six feet deep 
with the bodies of the gallant Frenchmen. 

“ While the attack was progressing, a musket 
ball rolled along a cannon and fell at the feet 


Incidents of the Siege at Yorktown. 243 

of Washington. General Knox seized him by 
the arm and exclaimed: 

“ 4 My dear general, we can’t spare you yet! ’ 
“ Washington replied : 

64 4 It is a spent ball, and no harm is done.’ 

44 When it was all over, and the redoubts in 
possession of the two parties, Washington turned 
to Knox and said: 

44 4 The work is done, and well done’ ” 


f 


CHAPTER XXL 


AFTER THE SURRENDER. 

I T was only a few days after the surrender at 
Yorktown that Washington received a sad 
message. During the siege almost all the Amer¬ 
ican army had suffered from fever and ague, on 
account of the heavy dews that wet through the 
tents, and now the news came that John Parke 
Custis, the “ Master Jaekey ” of Mount Vernon’s 
early days, was lying dangerously ill of the camp 
fever, at a friend’s house in Eltham. 

Washington hastened thither, but arrived only 
in time to see him die. The young widow was 
left with four little children whom Washington 
immediately adopted as his own, taking the two 
youngest with him to Mount Vernon. 

His mother, now quite an old lady, but very 
bright and vigorous, was living in Fredericks¬ 
burg. He had offered her a home at Mount 


After the Surrender. 


245 


Vernon, but though George was her favorite son, 
she preferred the independence of a separate 
establishment. 

Washington had not seen her for six years, 
and now, in company with Lafayette, he resolved 
to pay her a visit. 

She was at work in her garden, with an old 
sunbonnet on, when they arrived, but hastening 
forward to greet her guests, she turned to the 
young French hero, saying : 

“ I have not seen my dear son for years; 
and I would not pay you, marquis, so poor a 
compliment as to stop to change my dress.” 

After talking of the glorious victory at York- 
town, and the happy ending of the war, Lafaj^ette 
began to speak of the world-wide love and admir¬ 
ation bestowed upon her illustrious son : 

“ I am not surprised,” she replied, “ at what 
George has done, for he was always a very good 
boy.” 

Many of the foreign officers expressed a wish 
to see the mother of Washington, and at a recep¬ 
tion given in the village of Fredericksburg, she 
entered the room leaning upon the arm of her 
son. She was dressed in the plain but becoming 


246 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

manner common to the Virginia lady of olden 
times, and was at once so dignified, so courteous, 
so utterly free from embarrassment, that for¬ 
eign visitors were struck with amazement. 

“ If such are the matrons in America,” they 
said to one another, “well may the country boast 
of illustrious sons.” 

After a short stay at Mount Vernon, Washing¬ 
ton returned to Philadelphia, where Congress 
received him with great honor. The general 
feeling throughout the country was that peace 
was close at hand, and that a standing army was 
110 longer necessary. 

But Washington knew that it would be a long 
time before matters could be satisfactorily ar¬ 
ranged between the two countries, although the 
surrender of Cornwallis had put an end to present 
hostilities. 

Through his influence, resolutions were passed 
in Congress to raise men and money from the 
several States; and Doctor Franklin, who was 
then minister in France, did all in his power to 
secure further assistance there. 

“ Even if the nation and parliament,” said 
Washington, “ are really in earnest to obtain 






BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

















































































































































After the Surrender. 


24c 


peace with America, it will be wisdom in us 
to meet them with great caution and circumspec¬ 
tion, and by all means to keep our arms firm 
in our hands.” 

Early in May of the next year, Sir Guy Carle- 
ton arrived in New York, to take the place of 
Sir Henry Clinton. He immediately sent word 
to Washington that Admiral Digby and himself 
were doing all in their power to conclude the 
treaty of peace, but the proceedings in the 
House of Commons on the fourth of March had 
not yet passed into a law, and Washington knew 
it was not safe to trust to mere verbal promises.. 

There was a good deal of hard feeling through¬ 
out the American army at this time. The States 
had neglected to pay the soldiers what they 
promised, and there was scarcely money enough 
to feed the troops from day to day. 

It was just about this time that Washington 
received a letter from Colonel Nicola, begging 
him in behalf of the army to assume the title 
of king. 

To some men this might have proved a great 
temptation, but to Washington it was a source 
of great annoyance. 



250 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

In his answer to Colonel Nicola, he says: 

“ With a mixture of great surprise and aston¬ 
ishment, I have read with attention the senti¬ 
ments you have submitted to my perusal. Be 
assured, sir, no occurrence in the course of the 
war has given me more painful sensations. . . 

. . I am much at a loss to conceive what part 

of my conduct could have given encouragement 
to an address which to me seems big with the 
greatest mischiefs that can befall my country. 
If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, 
you could not have found a person to whom 
your schemes are more disagreeable.” 

The discontent in the army continued to in¬ 
crease until Washington was called upon to 
address them. There was no voice like his to 
soothe the excited soldiery, to settle difficulties, 
and bring order out of chaos. 

Mayor Shaw, who was present when this ad¬ 
dress was delivered, says in his letters that 
Washington made a short pause after reading the 
first paragraph, took out his spectacles, and said 
with a smile, 44 You see I have grown gray in the 
service of my country , and now 1 find myself 
growing blind.' 


WASHINGTON RESIGNING HIS COMMISSION 












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After the Surrender. 


253 


There was something so natural, so unaffected 
in this appeal, that it went straight to every heart, 
and prepared the way for all the earnest words 
that followed. 

The moment that Washington had finished, a 
round of applause from the soldiers showed how 
heartily they endorsed his sentiments; and a 
resolution was immediately moved by Generals 
Knox and Putnam, assuring him that with one 
heart and one mind the officers would unite with 
him in his efforts to restore harmony. 

Congress at once took up the subject, and nine 
of the States united in a resolution to change the 
proposed half-pay of the army into a sum equal 
to five years’ whole pay. 

In this manner, thanks to Washington’s mod¬ 
eration, the troublesome matters were happily 
adjusted. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


WASHINGTON RESIGNS THE COMMAND OF THE 
ARMY. 

N the twenty-third of March, 1783 , the 



Triumph, a vessel belonging to Count 
D’Estaing’s squadron, arrived at Philadelphia 
with the joyful news that a treaty of peace had 
been signed at Paris. 

In a few days Sir Guy Carleton sent Wash¬ 
ington a letter proclaiming a cessation of all 
hostilities by land or sea. 

A similar proclamation issued by Congress was 
received by the Commander-in-chief on the seven¬ 
teenth of April; and on the nineteenth — just 
eight }^ears to a day since the battle of Lexing¬ 
ton— Washington publicly announced to his army 
the glad tidings of peace. 

It was not thought best to disband the soldiery 
in large masses, but Washington was allowed to 


Washington Resigns his Command. 255 

grant as many furloughs as lie pleased. The men 
set out singly, or in small parties, for their various 
homes. Through Washington’s intercession they 
were allowed to take with them “ as their own 
property, and as a gratuity,” their arms and 
accoutrements. Once at home they were never 
called upon to rejoin the army; their weapons 
were hung up over their fireplaces to be prized 
by themselves and other generations as precious 
trophies of the Revolution. 

Meanwhile Sir Guy Carleton was making 
preparations to leave the city of New York. 

He wished Washington to take immediate 
possession of it “ to prevent all outrage; ” and 
on the morning of the twenty-fifth of Novem¬ 
ber, the American troops composed of dragoons, 
light artillery and infantry moved from Harlem 
to the Bowery. 

An American lady who was at that time 
a young girl, and had lived in the city dur¬ 
ing the latter part of the war, said: 

“We had been accustomed for a long time 
to military display in all the finish and finery 
of garrison life; the troops just leaving us 
were as if equipped for show, and with their 


256 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

scarlet uniforms and burnished arms, made a 
brilliant display; the troops that marched in, 
on the contrary, were ill-clad and weather¬ 
beaten, and made a forlorn appearance; but 
then they were our troops, and as I looked at 
them and thought upon all they had done and 
suffered for us, my heart and my eyes were 
full, and I admired and gloried in them the 
more because they were weather-beaten and for¬ 
lorn.” 

It was a time of great rejoicing in the city. 
The Governor gave banquets to the French 
ambassador, General Washington and his officers; 
and in the evening the public were entertained 
with a blaze of fireworks. 

Congress was just assembling at Annapolis, 
and Washington hastened thither to resign his 
command. 

At Whitehall Ferry a barge was waiting to 
take him across the Hudson to Paulus Hook. 

A number of officers had assembled at Froun¬ 
ces* Tavern near the ferry to bid him good- 
by, and when Washington entered the room 
he found himself suddenly surrounded by his 
old companions in arms. 




























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































. 























Washington Resigns his Command. 


It was a touching scene. Strong men though 
they were, these stern veterans wept like chil¬ 
dren as they took a final leave of their beloved 
commander. 

Expressing the hearty wish that their latter 
days might be as prosperous and happy as 
their former days had been glorious and hon¬ 
orable, Washington said with emotion: 

“ I cannot come to each of you to take my 
leave, but I shall be obliged if each of you 
will come and take me by the hand.” 

General Knox, who was nearest, was the first 
to come forward. Washington grasped his hand 
and gave him a brother’s embrace. In the 
same manner he took leave of each, too deeply 
affected to speak another word. 

Just before the evacuation of New York, 
Washington had delivered his farewell address 
to the army. Only a small force composed of 
those soldiers who had enlisted for a definite 
time, were to be retained, and Washington 
was looking eagerly forward to quiet home life 
at Mount Yernon. 

On his way to Annapolis, he stopped for a 
few days at Philadelphia, where he left with 


260 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

the Comptroller of the Treasury an account 
of the money he had spent in the service of 
his country from the commencement of the 
war to the end. The amount was about four¬ 
teen thousand, five hundred pounds sterling. 
This we must remember was not in payment 
for his services during those long eight years. 
Washington had accepted the office of com- 
mander-in-cliief only on condition that no salary 
should be paid him. 

It was on the twenty-third of December 
that Washington resigned his commission. The 
Hall of Congress, at Annapolis, was filled with 
spectators, many of whom were ladies, and 
“ Few tragedies,” said a gentleman who was 
present, “ drew so many tears from so many 
beautiful eyes, as the moving manner in which 
His Excellency took his leave of Congress.” 

The very next morning Washington left for 
Mount Vernon, that he might spend Christmas- 
day in the quiet of his own loved home. 

In a letter to Governor Clinton, he says: 

“I feel myself eased of a load of public 
care. I hope to spend the remainder of my 
days in cultivating the affections of good men, 
and in the practice of the domestic virtues.” 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


RETURN TO MOUNT VERNON. 

HE winter of 1784 was unusually severe, 



and Washington was snowbound for a 
number of weeks in his quiet retreat on the 
Potomac. 

In a letter to Lafayette he says: 

“ Free from the bustle of a camp, and the busy 
scenes of public life, I am solacing myself with 
those tranquil enjoyments which the soldier, who 
is ever in the pursuit of fame; the statesman 
whose watchful days and sleepless nights are 
spent in devising schemes to promote the wel¬ 
fare of his own, perhaps the ruin of other coun¬ 
tries — as if this globe was insufficient for us 
all; and the courtier, who is always watching 
the countenance of his prince in hopes of catch¬ 
ing a gracious smile, can have very little con¬ 
ception.Envious of none, I am 



262 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

determined to be pleased with all; and this, my 
dear friend, being the order of my march, I will 
move gently down the stream of life until I sleep 
with my fathers.” 

With the opening of spring crowds of visitors 
flocked to Mount Vernon. Washington received 
them all in frank, unpretending style. 

“ My manner of living,” he writes to a friend, 
“is plain, and I do not mean to be put out of 
it. A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are 
always ready, and such as will be content to 
partake of them are always welcome. Those 
who expect more wiirbe disappointed.” 

Washington had spent so generously of his 
own money to help forward the campaign, that 
economy was really necessary now. 

Congress wished to give him some national 
reward for his services, but Washington would 
accept nothing. He had served his country from 
love, not from any selfish motives. 

The fine estate at Mount Vernon had suffered 
a good deal from the ravages of war. It was 
Washington’s desire to devote himself now to 
the improvement of these widespread acres. 

“The more I am acquainted with agricultural 


Return to Mount Vernon. 263 

affairs,” he writes to a friend in England, “ the 
better I am pleased with them ; insomuch that 
I can nowhere find so much satisfaction as in 
those innocent and useful pursuits.” 

Every field was mapped out and numbered, 
so that he could easily oversee and direct the 
whole estate, even when away from home. 

Besides the 44 mansion-house farm,” as the 
grounds just about Mount Vernon were called, 
there were four other farms lying contiguous, 
each one of which had its own bailiff or over¬ 
seer, and its little settlement of barns, out-houses 
and cabins. 

Rising before dawn, it was Washington’s cus¬ 
tom to write a number of letters before breakfast, 
which always took place at half-past seven. 

He had a large correspondence, and regarded 
it as a grave offence against the rules of good 
manners to leave letters unanswered. 

General Lee once said to him : 

44 We are amazed, sir, at the vast amount of 
work that you accomplish.” 

44 Sir,” replied Washington, 44 1 rise at four 
o’clock, and a great deal of my work is done 
while others are asleep.” 


264 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

Immediately after breakfast he mounted his 
horse and rode out to the different parts of his 
estate, giving orders for the day just as method¬ 
ically as when in camp he rode to every outpost 
to see that each soldier was in his proper place. 

He took especial delight in beautifying the 
grounds about the house. 

In his diary of the following year ( 1785 ), we 
find him transplanting ivy to the garden walls, 
planting hemlock-trees on the lawn, and sowing 
holly-berries on the north side of the garden 
gate. 

He transplanted a group of young horsechest- 
nuts from Westmoreland, and in a letter to Gov¬ 
ernor Clinton of New York, he says : 

“ Whenever the season is proper, and an 
opportunity offers, I shall be glad to receive 
the balsam-trees, or others which you may 
think curious and exotic with us, as I am 
endeavoring to improve the grounds about my 
house in this way.” 

The diagram that Washington used in laying 
out these grounds may still be seen among the 
papers in the State archives. The places are 
marked on it for particular trees and shrubs, and 


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Return to Mount Vernon. 267 

it is interesting to note that many of them 
are still alive and thriving. 

He would take frequent rides to the Mill 
Swamp, the Dogue Creek, the “ Plantation of 
the Neck,” and other places along the Potomac, 
to find young elms, ash-trees, white thorn, 
mulberries, willows and lilacs. He laid out 
winding walks, and opened vistas through the 
Pine Grove, so that charming views could be 
seen beyond. Now he mentions in his diary 
that he has sown some acorns and buckeye 
nuts that he picked up himself along the 
Monongahela, and now he twines around the 
tall pillars on the veranda scarlet honeysuckles 
which his gardener tells him will bloom all 
summer. 

Beyond the five farms were several hundred 
acres of fine woodland where Washington and 
his guests spent many pleasant hours fox hunting. 

In the stables near the mansion-house were 
the carriage and saddle horses; besides these 
there were fifty-four draught horses on the 
farms, a dozen mules, three hundred and sev¬ 
enteen head of black cattle, and three hundred 
and sixty sheep. 


268 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

In the management of this large estate, 
Washington was very exact. No negligence 
was ever passed unnoticed, but his uniform 
kindness and consideration caused him to be 
greatly beloved by all in his employ, / 

Dinner at Mount Vernon was at half-past 
two. If there was no company, Washington 
would write until dark—sometimes until nine 
o’clock in the evening; but unless pressed by 
business, he always secured a little time with 
his family. * 

The children of Parke Custis he loved as 
his own. “Nelly,” the elder, who afterwards 
married Lawrence Lewis, Washington’s nephew, 
was an especial favorite. 

Recalling in after life the scenes of her 
childhood, she says: 

“ The General was a silent, thoughtful man, 
but I have sometimes made him laugh heartily 
by telling him about my pranks. Generally,'he 
spoke little; never of himself. I never heard 
him relate a single act of his life during the war.” 

“ When ten o’clock came,” writes a girl 
friend of pretty Nelly Custis, “Mrs. Washing¬ 
ton retired, and her granddaughter accom- 


Return to Mount Vernon. 


269 


panied her, ancl read a chapter and psalm from 
the old family Bible. All then knelt together 
in prayer, and when Mrs. Washington’s maid 
had prepared her for bed, Nelly sang a sooth¬ 
ing hymn, and leaning over her received from 
her some words of counsel, and her kiss and 
blessing.” 

A Mr. Watson who visited Mount Vernon 
in the winter of 1785, gives an interesting 
picture of Washington’s home life. 

“I trembled with awe,” he writes, “as I 
came into the presence of the great man. I 
found him at table with Mrs. Washington and 
her grandchildren, where he soon put me at 
my ease by unbending in a free and affable 
conversation. I observed a peculiarity in his 
smile which seemed to illuminate his eye; his 
whole countenance beamed with intelligence, 
while it commanded confidence and respect. 

“ I found him kind and benignant in the 
domestic circle; revered and beloved by all around 
him. His servants seemed to watch his eye, and 
to anticipate his every wish. Billy, the faithful 
companion of his military career, was always 
at his side.” 


2jo Young Folks Life of Washington. 

Mr. Watson had taken a severe cold during 
his journey, and coughed a great deal through 
the evening. Washington begged him to take 
some remedies, but he declined. 

“ After I had retired,” he says, “ the door of 
my room was gently opened, and, on drawing my 
bed curtains, I beheld Washington himself stand¬ 
ing at my bedside, with a bowl of hot tea in his 
hand. I was mortified and distressed beyond 
expression. This little incident occurring in com¬ 
mon life with an ordinary man would not have 
been noticed ; but as a trait of the benevolence 
and private virtue of Washington, deserves to be 
recorded.” 

And just here we would relate another pleas¬ 
ant anecdote showing Washington’s kindness of 
heart. 

“ While the American army occupied winter 
quarters at Morristown, N. J., and were strait¬ 
ened for provisions, Washington directed a hun¬ 
gry servant to go to his table and refresh himself; 
but the old soldier declined because he was on 
guard. Immediately Washington took his gun 
and acted sentinel while the soldier regaled him¬ 
self at his commander’s table. 


Return to Mount Vernon. 


271 


“ At another time, when several divisions of 
the army were engaged in constructing walls of 
defence from Wallabout Bay to Red Hook, one 
of the parties, under the supervision of a subal¬ 
tern officer, had a large piece of timber to 
raise. While engaged in raising it, the officer 
doing nothing but shout, ‘ Now, boys, right up ; 
h-e-a-v-e! ’ etc., a man rode up on horseback. 

44 4 Why do you not lend a helping hand ? ’ 
inquired the gentleman on horseback of the 
officer. The latter indignantly replied : 

“ 4 1 lend a helping hand ! Why, sir, I’d have 
you know I’m a corporal! ’ 

44 The gentleman sprang from his horse, laid 
hold of the piece of timber with the men, and 
very soon it was in the required place. 

44 Then turning to the corporal, he said : 

“ 4 Mr. Corporal, my name is George Wash- 
ington. I have come over from New York to 
inspect the works here; so soon as you have 
done this piece of work, you will meet me at 
your commander’s, General Sullivan's, quarters. 
This self-important soldier never rose higher than 
corporal. Even Washington could not make a 
colonel or a general out of such smallness.” 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION. 

LL this time while Washington was enjoy- 



rA ing the rest and quiet of Mount Vernon, 
public affairs were becoming sadly entangled. 
Rumors of disunion and jealousies among the 
thirteen States reached him from time to time, 
but it is only in his private letters that we can 
find how these tidings affected him. 

In writing to John Jay, at that time the 
Secretary of Foreign Affairs, he says : 

“ Retired as I am from the world, I frankly 
acknowledge I cannot feel myself an unconcerned 
spectator. Yet having happily assisted in bring¬ 
ing the ship into port, and having been fairly 
discharged, it is not my business to embark 
again on the sea of troubles.” 

To James McHenry, he writes: 

“ We are either a united people under one 


The PJuladelphia Convention. 273 

head and for federal purposes, or we are thirteen 
independent sovereignties, eternally counteracting 
each other. I can foresee no evil greater than 
disunion .” 

To his intimate friend, General Knox, he writes 
very freely : 

“ I feel, my dear General Knox, infinitely more 
than I can express to you, for the disorders 
which have arisen in these States. Good God! 
who besides a Tory could have foreseen, or a 
Briton predicted them ? ” 

And to James Madison: 

“ Thirteen sovereignties, pulling against each 
other, and all tugging at the federal head, will 
soon bring ruin on the whole ; whereas, a liberal 
and energetic constitution, well checked and well 
watched, to prevent encroachments, might restore 
us to that degree of respectability and conse¬ 
quence to which we had the fairest prospect of 
attaining.” 

It was wonderful how much Washington still 
influenced the popular heart, even in his retire¬ 
ment. These earnest words, intended only for 
the ears of intimate friends, were widely circu¬ 
lated, and eventually led to the meeting in Phil- 


274 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

adelphia, of a convention, composed of delegates 
from all the thirteen States. 

Washington was unanimously put at the head 
of the Virginia delegation. At first he objected 
to the nomination, but love of country finally 
prevailed, and on the ninth of May, 1786, he set 
out in his own carriage from Mount Vernon, to 
attend the convention. 

From Washington’s diary at this time, we make 
the following quotations: 

44 Monday , May 14th, 1787 :—This being the day 
appointed for the meeting of the convention, such 
members of it as were in town assembled at the 
State House, where it was found that two States 
only were represented ; viz. Virginia and Penn¬ 
sylvania agreed to meet again to-morrow at eleven 
o’clock. Dined (in a family way) at Mr. Morris’s.” 

44 Tuesday , 15th:—Repaired to the State House 
at the hour appointed. No more States repre¬ 
sented, though there were members (but not 
sufficient to form a quorum) from two or three 
others: viz. North Carolina and Delaware, as 
also Jersey. Governor Randolph, of Virginia, 
came in to-day. Dined with the Society of the 
Cincinnati. 


The Philadelphia Convention. 275 

“ Friday , 18th: —The State of New York rep¬ 
resented. Dined with Club at Grey’s Ferry, over 
Schuylkill, and drank tea at Mr. Morris’s. After 
that went with Mrs. Morris and some other ladies 
to hear a lady read at the College Hall.” 

It was not until the following Friday that a 
sufficient number of States were represented to 
form a quorum. 

“ On that day,” continues Washington in his 
diary, “ seven States being represented, the body 
was organized, and I was called to the chair 
by a unanimous vote. Major Jackson was ap¬ 
pointed secretary.” 

On Monday, September 17th, he writes: 

“ Met in convention, and signed the proceed¬ 
ings — all except General Randolph, Colonel 
Mason and Mr. Gerry. Dined all together at 
the City Tavern, and returned to my lodgings.” 

The next day Washington starts for home, 
and lodges at Chester that night. The following 
morning he has a narrow escape from drowning 
when crossing Christiana Bridge. 

Of this he writes: 

“ At the bridge on the head Elk, I narrowly 
escaped an ugly accident to my chariot and 


276 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

horses. One fell through, and another with the 
chariot was on the point of following, but by 
esculiers was saved.” 

The last record of this journey is made Sep¬ 
tember 22 d: 

“ Breakfasted at Bladensburgh, passed through 
Georgetown, dined at Alexandria, and reached 
home this evening, after being absent four 
months and fourteen da}^.” 

An interesting anecdote connected with this 
convention at Philadelphia, is told by a Mr. 
Pierce, who was a delegate from Georgia. 

When the convention first opened, a number 
of propositions were brought forward, concern¬ 
ing which strict secrecy was enjoined. One 
morning a member accidentally dropped his 
copy of the propositions. It was picked up 
by the Speaker of the House and handed to 
General Washington, who put it in his pocket. 

After the debates of the day were over, 
Washington rose and addressed the committee 
as follows: 

“ Gentlemen, I am sorry to find that some 
one member of this body has been so neglect¬ 
ful of the secrets of the Convention as to 


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prayer in congress 




























































The Philadelphia Convention. 279 

drop in the State House a copy of their pro¬ 
ceedings, which by accident was picked up 
and delivered to me this morning. I must 
entreat gentlemen to be more careful, lest our 
transactions get into the newspapers, and dis¬ 
turb the public by premature speculations. I 
know not whose paper it is, but there it is (throw¬ 
ing it down on the table); let him who owns 
it take it.” 

Having said this he bowed, took his hat, and 
left the room. 

“ I was extremely alarmed,” adds Mr. Pierce, 
“for putting my hand in my pocket, I missed 
my copy of the same paper; but advancing 
to the table, my fears were relieved. I found 
it to be in the handwriting of another per¬ 
son.” 

Mr. Pierce found his copy at his lodgings, 
in the pocket of a coat he had changed. No 
one ever ventured to claim the other paper. 

This memorable Convention lasted four months, 
with sittings of from four to seven hours each 
day. 

Dr. Franklin was one of the delegates, and 
on the last day of the session, looking towards 


28 o Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

Washington’s chair on the back of which a 
sun was painted, he said to some of the mem¬ 
bers near him: 

“ I have often and often, in the course of 
this session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes 
and fears at its issue, looked at that sun 
behind the President, without being able to 
tell whether it was rising or setting; at length 
I have the happiness to know it is a rising, 
and not a setting sun.” 

The result of this Convention was the form¬ 
ation of the Constitution of the United States , 
which with some amendments is the Consti¬ 
tution of to-day. 


CHAPTER XXV. 


WASHINGTON IS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 

HE Federal Constitution had no sooner 



been adopted than the question arose, 
Who shall fill the Presidential chair? 

Before there was time for an election, it was 
very evident that the unanimous choice of the 
nation would be none other than George Wash¬ 
ington. 

But to Lafayette, the great man writes: 

“ The office has no fascinating allurements 
for me. At my time of life” (he was only 
fifty-six), “and under my circumstances, the 
increasing infirmities of nature, and the grow¬ 
ing love of retirement, do not permit me to 
entertain a wish beyond that of living and 
dying an honest man on my own farm. Let 
those follow the pursuits of ambition and fame 


282 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

who have a keener relish for them, or who 
may have more years in store for their enjoy¬ 
ment.” 

Upon counting the votes of the electoral 
college in April, however, the unanimous vote 
still fell upon Washington, and he was forced 
to accept. 

In a letter to General Knox, he writes: 

“ In confidence I tell you (with the world 
it would obtain little credit) that my move¬ 
ments to the chair of government will be 
accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a 
culprit who is going to the place of his exe¬ 
cution. ... I am sensible that I am embarking 
the voice of the people, and a good name of 
my own, on this voyage; but what returns 
will be made for them, Heaven alone can fore¬ 
tell. Integrity and firmness are all I can 
promise. These, be the voyage long or short, 
shall never forsake me, although I may be 
deserted by all men.” 

An entry in his diary dated April 16th, 
1789, reads as follows: 

“ About ten o’clock I bade adieu to Mount 
Vernon. . . . And with a mind oppressed with 


Washington is Elected President . 283 

more anxious and painful sensations than I 
have words to express, set out for New York” 
(then the seat of government), “ with the best 
disposition to render service to my country in 
obedience to its call, but with less hope of 
answering its expectations.” 

His journey to New York was a continued 
series of rejoicings. Bells were rung, cannon 
fired, and young and old thronged the highways. 
At Baltimore he was greeted by a cavalcade 
of citizens, and the thunder of artillery. 

At Philadelphia, a grand military procession 
escorted him into the city, with General St. Clair 
at its head. A beautiful white horse was led out 
for Washington to mount, and under triumphal 
arches of laurel, he proceeded on his journey. 

It was a bright sunny afternoon when he 
reached the banks of the Delaware at Trenton. 
Could it be the same spot where twelve years 
before he had crossed in the darkness through 
blinding snow and drifting ice ? 

On the bridge which crosses the Assunpink, 
the ladies of Trenton had erected a beautiful 
arch and twined it with evergreens and laurels. 

It bore the inscription: 


Young Folks' Life of Washington . 


“ The Defender of the Mothers will be the Protector of the 
Daughters ! ” 

and just beside it stood a number of young 
girls dressed in white, who strewed flowers before 
Washington, and sang an ode expressive of their 
love and gratitude. 

This beautiful scene quite overcame Washing¬ 
ton. He often spoke of it afterwards, and 
declared that it completely unmanned him. 

At Elizabethtown Point a committee of both 
Houses of Congress waited to receive him. The 
barge built expressly for the occasion, was 
manned by thirteen branch pilots, masters of 
vessels, in white uniforms, and commanded by 
Commodore Nicholson. 

Numerous barges fancifully decorated, fell in 
the wake, and on board of two vessels were 
parties of ladies and gentlemen who sang con¬ 
gratulatory odes as Washington’s barge ap¬ 
proached. 

Dressed in colors, the ships at anchor in the 
harbor fired salutes as it passed, but the Gal¬ 
veston , a Spanish ship-of-war, showed no signs 
of greeting until the General’s barge was nearly 
abreast. Then, as if by magic, the whole vessel 


RECEPTION OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON AT NEW YORK. 



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Washington is Elected President. 287 

blossomed out with all manner of flags and 
signals, and thundered out its salute of thirteen 
guns. 

Landing at Murray’s wharf amid the ringing 
of bells, the roaring of cannon, and the cheering 
of the people, Washington was there received 
by Governor Clinton, and conducted to his 
house by a grand civil and military procession. 

Noting in his diary the events of the day, 
Washington writes : 

“The display of boats, which attended and 
joined us on this occasion, some with vocal and 
some with instrumental music on board; the 
decorations of the ships, the roar of the cannon, 
and the loud acclamations of the people which 
rent the skies as I passed along the wharves, 
filled my mind with sensations as painful (con¬ 
sidering the reverse of this scene, which may be 
the case after all my labors to do good) as they 
are pleasing.” 

It was on the thirtieth of April, 1789, that 
the inauguration took place. In the morning 
at nine o’clock, there were religious services in 
all the churches, and especial prayers for the 
blessing of Heaven upon the new government. 


288 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

At half-past twelve, Washington was escorted 
from Governor Clinton's house to the Hall of 
Congress, by another imposing procession. 

The oath of office was administered by the 
Chancellor of the State of New York, upon a 
balcony in front of the Senate Chamber. The 
street below, the windows opposite, and even 
the adjacent roofs were crowded with spectators. 
In the centre of the balcony was a table cov¬ 
ered with crimson velvet, and upon this lay a 
large Bible. 

As Washington stepped out upon the balcony 
he was greeted with loud, enthusiastic cheers. 
A very king among men he looked that day, 
as, advancing to the front of the balcony, he 
bowed to the populace below. He was dressed 
in a full suit of dark-brown cloth, with a steel- 
hilted dress sword, white silk stockings, and silver 
shoe-buckles. His hair, according to the fashion 
of the day, was powdered, and worn in a bag 
and solitaire. 

John Adams, the vice-President, stood on his 
right; Robert R. Livingston, the Chancellor of 
the State, on his left; and just behind him 
were Roger Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, Gen- 


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Washington is Elected President. 291 

erals Knox, St. Clair, and the Baron Steuben. 

The oath was read slowly and distinctly, Wash¬ 
ington at the same time laying his hand on the 
open Bible. 

“I swear — so help me God!” he replied sol¬ 
emnly, and then bowing down he reverently 
kissed the holy book. 

“Long live George Washington, President of 
the United States! ” exclaimed the Chancellor 
as he stepped forward and waved his hand. 

A flag was immediately displayed on the 
cupola of the hall, all the bells in the city 
rang out exultingly, the multitudes cheered, and 
there was a thundering of artillery on the battery. 

Washington again bowed to the people, and 
returning to the Senate chamber, he delivered 
to both Houses of Congress his inaugural address. 

After this the whole assembly proceeded on 
foot to St. Paul’s Church, where prayers were 
read by Bishop Prevost, of New York, who had 
been appointed by the Senate one of the chap¬ 
lains of Congress. 

Brilliant illuminations and fireworks concluded 
the memorable day. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


DIFFICULTIES OF THE PRESIDENT’S POSITION. 


ASHINGTON fully realized the difficult 



position he was called upon to fill. He 


knew that he had a high-spirited people to man¬ 
age, whose passion for freedom and independence 
had been strengthened by war. It was more than 
probable that they would bear with impatience 
even their own self-imposed government. Only 
three States, New Jersey, Delaware and Georgia 
had unanimously accepted the Constitution ; sev¬ 
eral had adopted it just by a majority, while two 
States, Rhode Island and North Carolina, still 
kept at a distance. 

The great extent of the country, fully ten 
times larger than any other republic, was another 
cause of anxiety. Railroads and telegraph wires, 
those magic bonds of union, were then un¬ 
dreamed-of possibilities; and beyond the Alle- 


Difficulties of the President's Position. 293 

ghanies there were wide extended regions where 
roving Indians and discontented white men could 
unite and form disastrous mutinies. 

British emissaries were everywhere sowing 
seeds of disunion, and the Spanish authorities 
at New Orleans were trying to bring about a 
separation of the Western territory, with the 
hope of attaching it to their own dominions. 

To add to all these perplexities, there was no 
money in the treasury, and all efforts to pay 
or fund the public debt had failed. 

Washington, in a letter to Edward Rutledge 
at this time, says : 

“I walk, as it were, on untrodden ground . . 

. . . I feel how much I shall stand in need 

of the countenance and aid of every friend to 
myself, of every friend to the revolution, and 
of every lover of good government.’' 

About the middle of May Mrs. Washington 
with, her two grandchildren set out from Mount 
Vernon to join her husband at the seat of 
government. 

A small escort of horse attended her travelling 
carriage, and throughout the journey she was 
everywhere greeted with tokens of regard. 


294 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

On reaching Philadelphia a number of the 
State officials came out to meet her, while the 
ringing of bells and booming of cannon an¬ 
nounced her arrival. 

At Elizabethtown she was entertained by Gov¬ 
ernor Livingston, and it was here that Wash¬ 
ington came from New York to meet her. 

The same beautiful barge that had conveyed 
the General to his inauguration, was again in 
demand; and there was another salute of thir¬ 
teen guns as the President and his lady passed 
the battery at New York. 

They landed at Peck Slip, which was not 
far from the Presidential mansion, amid the hearty 
cheers of the people. 

The next day Washington gave his first offi¬ 
cial dinner, concerning which one of the guests 
writes: 

“It was the least showy dinner that I ever 
saw at the President’s table, and the company 
was not large. As there was no chaplain pres¬ 
ent, Washington himself said a short grace as 
he was sitting down. After dinner and dessert 
were finished, the President rose, and all the 
company retired to the drawing-room from which 


Difficulties in the President's Position. 295 

the guests departed, as every one chose, without 
ceremony.” 

On the evening of the following day, Mrs. 
Washington held a general reception, and on 
every Friday evening after, similar gatherings 
were held at the President’s house. To these 
receptions, at which the President himself was 
always present, the families of all persons, native 
or foreign, had access, and they were as free as 
possible from all unnecessary parade or restraint. 
Yet oftentimes they were subject to unfriendly 
criticism, and sneered at as “court-like levees,” 
and “ queenly drawing-rooms ! ” 

The Sabbath was always strictly observed by 
Washington. No visitors were admitted on that 
day except perhaps some intimate friend in the 
evening. He always attended church in the 
morning, and spent the afternoon in private 
devotions. 

Mrs. Washington seems to have been a general 
favorite. In a letter to an intimate friend she 
says: 

“It is owing to the kindness of our numerous 
friends in all quarters, that my new and unwished- 
for situation is not indeed a burden to me. 


296 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

When I was much younger, I should probably 
have enjoyed the innocent gayeties of life as 
much as most persons of my age: but I had 
long since placed all the prospects of my future 
worldly happiness in the still enjoyment of the 
fireside at Mount Vernon.” 

A few weeks after the inauguration, Wash¬ 
ington was taken dangerously ill. For a number 
of days he lay in a critical condition, and calling 
the physician to his bedside when alone with 
him, he said : 

“ Do not flatter me with vain hopes. I am not 
afraid to die, and therefore can bear the worst.” 

The doctor told him he still had hopes, but 
that he could not deny there was great danger. 

“Whether I die to-night, or twenty years 
hence, makes no difference,” observed Washing¬ 
ton ; “ I know that I am in the hands of a 
good Providence.” 

His recovery was very slow, and the following 
autumn his physicians advised him to try a 
change of air. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


TOUR THROUGH THE EASTERN STATES. 

N the fifteenth of October, Washington set 



out from New York in his own car¬ 
riage for a journey through the Eastern States. 
He was accompanied by his official secretary, 
Major Jackson, and his private secretary, Mr. 


Lear. 


Thomas Jefferson had just been offered the 
Department of State, and John Jay took charge 
of Foreign Affairs during the President’s absence. 

The journey of Washington was everywhere 
marked with tokens of love and respect. Bells 
were rung, cannon fired, and military processions 
formed in every town through which he passed. 

The following pleasant anecdote is told of his 
short stay at Newburyport: 

“ Tristam Dalton, then United States Senator, 
had him one morning to breakfast, and invited 



t 


298 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

all the professional men of the town to come 
and be introduced. While at breakfast, and when 
the President was in conversation with the Rev. 
John Murray, the servant of Mr. Dalton came 
in and said to him that an old man was in the 
hall, and wished to speak to Washington. Mr. 
Dalton said to him that the President was en¬ 
gaged ; but this request caught the ear of the 
President, and he immediately sprang to his feet 
and went to the hall, the Rev. Mr. Murray 
accompanying him. As soon as the soldier saw 
him he said, 4 God bless you, Major Washing¬ 
ton ! ’ The President immediately recognizing 
him, said : 

“ 4 Cotton, how do you do? I am glad to see 
you! ’ and took a guinea from his pocket and 
gave it to him. Returning to his breakfast he 
told Mr. Murray that this man had been a faith¬ 
ful servant to him in the old French war, and 
he had not seen him, till then, since thirty years 
before. 

“ Cotton, who was always nicknamed Colonel 
Cotton, and did errands for people, made a hole 
through the guinea, and wore it round his neck 
till poverty obliged him to part with it.” 


Tour Through the Eastern States. 299 

Upon crossing the State line of Massachu¬ 
setts, Washington had been met by an express 
from Governor Hancock, inviting him to make 
his headquarters at his house while he should 
remain in Boston. 

Washington courteously declined the Gover¬ 
nor’s invitation, as he had resolved to visit the 
city without any parade, and had commissioned 
a friend to engage lodgings for him during his 
stay. 

The Governor, however, sent out the militia, 
with General Brooks at their head, and Mr. 
Samuel Adams, the Lieutenant-Governor, at the 
head of the Executive Council, to meet Wash¬ 
ington at Cambridge and escort him with all 
due ceremony into the city. 

On arriving at what was then called “ The 
Neck,” the Lieutenant-Governor and his party 
were brought to a sudden halt by the city 
authorities and their military party, who had also 
come to escort Washington into Boston. 

A great question of etiquette now followed. 
The first party insisted upon the right of the 
Governor, as head of the State, to receive at 
its capital the distinguished guest. 


300 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

“ He should have received him at the boun¬ 
dary of the State,” said the others. “ When the 
President is about to enter the town , it is the 
delegated right of the municipal authorities to 
receive and bid him welcome.” 

The day was unusually cold and disagreeable, 
and Washington who was now mounted on horse¬ 
back and waiting for the dispute to be settled, 
exclaimed to his secretary, Major Jackson, 

“Is there no other avenue into the town?” 

He was indeed just wheeling about, thoroughly 
chilled and disgusted with the long delay, when 
the question was finally settled in favor of the 
municipal authorities. 

“At the entrance of the city,” says Washing¬ 
ton, “ I w~as welcomed by the selectmen in a 
body. Then following the Lieutenant-Governor 
and council in the order we came from Cam¬ 
bridge (preceded by the town corps, very hand¬ 
somely dressed), we passed through the citizens, 
classed in their different professions, and under 
their own banners, till we came to the State 
House.” 

One looker-on says of Washington at this 
time: * 


Tour Through the Eastern States. 30 r 

“ He was on horseback, dressed in his old 
continental uniform, with his hat on. He did 
not bow to the spectators as he passed, but sat 
on his horse with a calm, dignified air/’ 

General William H. Sumner, then a boy of 
between nine and ten years, writes of his 
personal recollections of this memorable day 
as follows: 

“I was a pupil at Master Lane’s West 
Boston writing-school. Washington entered 
Boston on Saturday, the twenty-fourth of 
October, 1789 . The children of the schools 
were all paraded in the main street, and stood 
in the gutters in front of the long rows of 
men whose strength was required and exerted 
to protect them from the crowd on the side¬ 
walks as the procession passed along the 
street. The General rode on a noble white 
charger with characteristic erectness and dignity. 
Colonel Lear and Major Jackson accompanied 
him as his aids. Washington was in uniform, 
and as he rode, his head uncovered, he 
inclined his body first on one side and then 
on the other, without distinctly bowing, but 
so as to observe the multitude in the streets, 


302 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

and the ladies in the windows and on the 
tops of the houses, who saluted him as he 
passed. 

“ Master Lane’s boys were placed in front 
of Mr. Jonathan Mason’s hardware store, near 
the bend in Washington street (then Cornhill), 
opposite Williams court. I well remember the 
laugh which our salute created, when, as the 
General passed us, we rolled in our hands 
our quills with the longest feathers we could 
get. From our position at the angle of the 
street, we had a fair view of the procession 
as it approached, and after it passed us. A 
select choir of singers, led by Rhea, the 
chorister of Brattle Street Church, was placed 
on the triumphal arch under which the pro¬ 
cession was to pass, and which extended from 
the Old State House to the stores of Joseph 
Pierce and others at the opposite side of 
Cornhill. The arch was decorated with flags, 
flowers, and evergreen, so that the musicians 
were not seen until they rose and sang the 
loud paean, commencing as Washington first 
came in sight at the angle where we stood, 
swelling in heavy chorus until he passed from 


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Tour Through the Eastern States. 305 

our sight under the triumphal arch, and took 
his station upon it. Here the selectmen of 
Boston gave him a formal reception, and 
escorted him from there to the Old State 
House. 

“ Attended by a large company of militia, 
he was then taken to the quarters which had 
been prepared for him at the corner of Tremont 
and Queen (now Court) streets. A marble 
slab on the Court street side of the building 
may still be seen, informing the passerby that 
here is a spot once hallowed by the presence 
of him whom all delighted to honor. 

“ On the following Sabbath he attended 
public worship at Trinity Church in the fore¬ 
noon, and listened to a sermon from Dr., 
afterward Bishop Parker; in the afternoon 
he sat in Governor Bowdoin’s pew in Brattle 
Street meeting-house.” 

A pleasant little anecdote is told in con¬ 
nection with his journey over the Hartford 
and Providence turnpike. A party of boys 
who lived some miles distant on the Mans¬ 
field road, determined to get a glimpse of the 
great man as he passed what was called the 


306 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

“Crossroads,” near Willington, Connecticut. To 
do this they were obliged to walk a long dis¬ 
tance ; and many a rough fence and tangled 
thicket they encountered as they ran “ cross 
lots” in hopes to shorten the self-imposed 

tramp. When at last they came in sight of 
the “turnpike,” one of the boys exclaimed: 

“How like ragamuffins we do look with our 
old clothes on, and they all so torn and 

muddy! What will the General think of us 
if he should happen to spy us?” 

A little fellow suggested that they trim 

themselves up with some of the bright autumn 
leaves that were scattered on the ground. 

The other boys declared it was an excellent 
idea, and after pinning on the gay leaves 

with a few thorns, they joined the crowd of 
people that had already surrounded the Presi¬ 
dential party. 

Upon reaching the Crossroads, Washington 
and his suite alighted to rest awhile under the 
shade of a great oak-tree. 

The boys pressed through the crowd and 
managed with reckless daring to creep under 
the large coach in which the General rode. 


WASHINGTON AND THE ROYS 


4 






























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' 








I 

I 



































' 

• • 
















' 

























* 










































































. 
































V 





* 

* 



Tour Through the Eastern States. 309 

Washington, who was standing under the 
oak-tree, suddenly caught a glimpse of their 
eager faces. 

“ Come out, boys! ” he said, with an amused 
smile, “and let us see what you are.” 

Half abashed, yet delighted, beyond measure 
at this unexpected good luck, the boys scram¬ 
bled out and stood with hats off, in a line 
before him. 

“Well, well, my boys!” said the General, 
“you must have run quite hard in order to 
see me, and have, I suppose, bedecked your¬ 
selves with these beautiful autumn leaves in 
my honor. I bid you a very good morning.” 

“ O dear me! ” cried little Amos Preston, the 
youngest of them all, “ you are nothing but a 
man, after all, sir! ” 

“You are quite right, my fine little fellow,” 
said Washington, laughing; and then patting 
the child’s head, he added, “ you are right, and, 
if I mistake not your character, I am not more 
of a man than you will be some day. That is 
something for you all to remember. You who 
are boys now, are soon to be the men upon whom 
our country must depend.” 


310 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

The old oak-tree is still standing at the 
“ Cross roads; ” and the children and grand¬ 
children of these indefatigable little fellows, de¬ 
light to repeat the story, and hand it down to 
coming generations. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 


THE PRESIDENT’S LIFE AT THE CAPITAL. 

I T was soon after Washington’s return from 
his Eastern trip that Colonel John Trum¬ 
bull, his former aide-de-camp, and now a famous 
historical painter, returned from Europe. 

He brought an especial message from Lafay¬ 
ette. The French Revolution was now agitating 
all Europe. The object aimed at by Lafayette, 
Rochefoucauld, Condorcet and a few other lead¬ 
ing minds, was to obtain for France a constitu¬ 
tion nearly resembling that of England. Their 
desire was to diminish very essentially the power 
of the king, but still to retain the throne. 

Jefferson, who had just returned from France, 
where he had resided as Minister Plenipotentiary, 
held more extreme views. He was strongly on 
the side of the people. He thought a successful 
revolution in France would ensure a general 


312 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

reformation throughout Europe ; and his hatred 
of all forms of royalty was well-known. 

“ He felt,” he said, “ as if the success of the 
French revolution was necessary to stay up oui 
own, and prevent its falling back to that kind 
of half-way house, the English constitution.” 

It was not long before Lafayette was called 
upon to perform a conspicuous and perilous 
part in the Revolution. 

In a letter to Washington in the spring of 
1790 , he says: 

“Permit me, my dear General, to offer you a 
picture of the Bastile, such as it was some 
days after I had given orders for its demolition. 
I make you homage also, of the principal key 
of this fortress of despotism. It is a tribute 
which I owe you, as son to my adopted father, 
as aide-de-camp to my general, as missionary 
of liberty to its patriarch.” 

Washington received the key as “a token of 
the victory gained by liberty over despotism,” 
and it may still be seen among the relics pre¬ 
served at Mount Vernon. 

In December of this year Congress assembled 
at Philadelphia, which became for a time the 


The President's Life at The Capital. .313 

seat of government. A house which had be¬ 
longed to Mr. Robert Morris was hired b} r 
Washington for his residence, and fitted up 
according to his directions, “ in a plain and neat, 
but by no means extravagant style.” Washing¬ 
ton had a great dislike to any unnecessary dis¬ 
play, and it grieved him not a little when his 
quiet informal receptions were spoken of as 
“ court-like levees.” 

“Between the hours of three and four, every 
Tuesday,” he writes, “ I am prepared to receive 
my friends. Gentlemen, often in great numbers, 
come and go, chat with each other, and act as 
they please; a porter shows them into the room, 
and they retire from it when they please, and 
without ceremony. At their first entrance they 
salute me, and I them, and as many as I can 
talk to, I do. What pomp there is in all this 
I am unable to discover. Perhaps it consists 
in not sitting. To this two reasons are opposed : 
first, it is unusual; secondly, which is a more 
substantial one, because I have no room large 
enough to contain a third of the chairs which 
would be sufficient to admit it. 

“ Similar to the above, but of a more sociable 


3 H Young Folks Life of Washington. 

kind, are the visits every Friday afternoon to 
Mrs. Washington, where I am. These public 
meetings, and a dinner once a week to as many 
as my table will hold, with the references to 
and from the different departments of State and 
other communications with all parts of the 
Union, are as much, if not more, than I am 
able to undergo.” 

And yet Jefferson is all the time talking about 
the “ forms and ceremonies ” at the seat of govern¬ 
ment, while a certain Colonel B-declares “ that 

there is more pomp used there than at St. 
James, and that Washington’s bows are more 
distant and stiff! ” 

At one of these Tuesday evening levees, an 
amusing little episode occurred : 

German John, the porter, having answered a 
loud rap on the outer door, was not a little sur¬ 
prised and discomfited to find a ragged old 
Irishman on the steps who persisted in com¬ 
ing in. 

“ I’m an ould soldier,” he explained, “ and 
have come to headquarters to see His Honor’s 
excellence, God bless him ! ” 

The porter declared it would be impossible for 



The President's Life at the Capital. 3 1 5 

the President to see him then, as he was ex¬ 
pecting a large company that evening. 

“ All right,” replied Pat, pushing himself past 
the porter, and taking a seat in the hall. “ I 
will wait His Honor’s leisure.” 

Soon the reception began, and senators, judges, 
ministers of state and foreign ambassadors, passed 
in and out, while the old soldier sat patiently in 
his corner. 

At length the last carriage drove away, and 
the President was about to retire to his library. 

“Das ish von obstinate old Irishman vot has 
taken de hall!” said German John, exasperated 
beyond measure. 

Washington, with a good-natured smile, stepped 
out into the entry. 

“ Long life to ver Excellency! ” cried the 
delighted old soldier, throwing down his hat 
with a military salute. 

“ Yer Honor may not remember me, though 
many’s the day I’ve marched under yer orders, 
and many’s the hard knocks I’ve had too. I 
belonged to Wayne’s brigade — Mad Anthony, 
the British called him. I was wounded in the 
battle of Germantown. Hurrah for America! 


316 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

and it does my heart good to see yer Honor! ” 

With a few kind words Washington put some¬ 
thing into the soldier’s hands, and then went 
up-stairs to his library. 

Pat followed him with grateful eyes : then turn¬ 
ing over the gold piece he had received from 
the President — 44 from His Honor’s own hand,” 
he put on his hat, marched out of the hall with 
military precision, and called out to the indig¬ 
nant porter : 

44 There now, yer Hessian fellow, you see that 
His Honor’s excellence has not forgotten an 
ould soldier.” 

Anticipating the President’s arrival at Phila¬ 
delphia, Mr. Lear, his secretary, spoke to him 
of the rich and elegant style in which the 
state carriage had been fitted up. 

44 1 had rather have heard,” replied Washing¬ 
ton, 44 that my repaired coach was plain and 
elegant, than rich and elegant.” 

At one time his steward had provided for 
breakfast a very fine shad, the first of the sea¬ 
son. The next morning it was duly served in 
the best style. Washington observed the fra¬ 
grant delicacy as he sat down, and asked what it 


The President's Life at the Capital. 317 

was. The steward replied that it was a fine shad. 

“ Is it not very early in the season,” he asked, 
“for shad — how much did you pay for it?” 

“ Three dollars,” replied the steward. 

“Three dollars!” exclaimed Washington. “I 
cannot encourage such extravagance at my table. 
Take it away — I will not touch it!” 

The shad was accordingly removed, but it is 
to be feared that the caterer, who had no such 
scruples himself, made a hearty meal upon it 
in his own room. 

Washington preserved to the last the plain 
and simple tastes he brought from his mother’s 
frugal household. 

A couple of corn cakes with butter and honey, 
and two or three cups of tea, usually formed 
his breakfast ; and when in camp, he would some¬ 
times make a dinner on baked apples or berries, 
with cream or milk. 

This well-known moderation of his table helped 
not a little through the war to keep up the 
courage and devotion of his soldiers, who felt 
that “ their beloved commander shared their 
privations, instead of revelling in luxury when 
they were starving.” 


3 l & Young Folks' Life of Washington. 


Dr. Buchanan, an old playmate of G. W. P. 
Custis, gives the following interesting reminis¬ 
cences : 

“ The General’s coach, with cream-colored 
horses with white manes and tails, was sent 
as usual on a Saturday for me to dine. The 
President then resided in the Franklin or Os¬ 
good House, at the head of Cherry street, nearly 
opposite Dover street. I found him and lady 
in the back dining-room, and after a time he 
disappeared, shortly thereafter making his ap¬ 
pearance in full dress, black silk velvet chapeau, 
and elegant steel-hilted sword. A servant soon 
approached him, and the General followed him to 
the stoop with sloping steps both up and down 
Cherry street, and an iron-ornamented railing in 
front, before which were congregated a number 
of gentlemen to whom Washington in return 
addressed a few words. 

“Custis took the right side of the General, 
while I, captivated by the glitter of the steel, 
entangled my feet in the ornamental work of 
the iron railing, and employed my fingers in 
discussing the ornaments of the sword-hilt; the 
General mildly but firmly placed his left hand 


The President's Life at the Capital. 


319 


on my shoulder and repressed my encroachments. 
I was abashed and retired. The company then 
came into the house, and were served with cakes 
and wine. On their departure, the General again 
retired and came down to dinner in his usual 
costume of pepper-and-salt colored clothes. 

“On my return to America in 1799, General 
Hamilton wrote to Washington, informing him 
of my return, with some complimentary addi¬ 
tions, and that I had set my heart upon the 
post of surgeon of the President’s frigate, then 
building at Corlaer’s Hook. To this the General 
replied, that since his retirement from office, 
he had made it a rule not to interfere with 
any appointments by the different departments. 

4 But young Buchanan,’ he said, 4 was a peculiar 
case, and he has special claims upon me. Tell 
him to keep his mind easy, he will be appointed 
to the ship.’ And I was appointed,” adds Doc¬ 
tor Buchanan, 44 although I did not sail in 
the ship.” 

While in Philadelphia, Washington’s dinner- 
hour was at four o’clock. Often new members 
of Congress, who had not learned that his 
promptness extended to his meals, were invited 


320 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

to his table ; and sometimes a guest would come 
in while the company were eating. To such an 
one, Washington would courteously explain: 

“We are punctual here. My cook never asks 
whether the company has arrived, but whether 
the hour has come.” 

It is said that his secretary was very apt to 
be behind time, and on being reproved by Wash¬ 
ington for so bad a habit, he excused himself 
on the ground that his watch did not keep 
correct time. 

“ Then }^ou must get a new watch,” replied 
Washington, “or I must have a new secretary.” 

When Washington visited Boston in 1788, he 
was to start one morning for Salem at eight 
o’clock, and a fine escort of cavalry was to ac¬ 
company him. Just as the Old South clock struck 
the hour, he mounted his horse and started, 
though the cavalry had not arrived. 

The commander of the escort was greatly mor¬ 
tified when he found the President was already 
on his way. Ordering his cavalry to follow 
“double quick,” the escort overtook the Presi¬ 
dent at Charles River bridge. 

When they came up, Washington turned to 


321 


The President's Life at the Capital. 

the commander with a broad smile on his face 
and said : 

“ Major, I thought you had been in my family 
too long not to know when it was eight 









CHAPTER XXIX. 


DIFFICULTIES IN THE CABINET AND TROUBLES 
WITH THE INDIANS. 

I T will be remembered that Alexander Hamil¬ 
ton was at this time Secretary of the Treas¬ 
ury, and Thomas Jefferson Secretar}^ of State. 
In almost every discussion that came up before 
the Cabinet these two members were at sword’s 
point; and after a little two distinct political 
parties sprang up throughout the States, the one 
called Federalists siding with Hamilton, and the 
other termed 'Republicans or Democrats , siding 
with Jefferson. 

The Federalists would strengthen the present 
government, not change it; they looked with 
little favor on the radical movement in France, 
while the Republican-Democrats did not hesitate 
to express a strong sympathy with the French 
revolutionists. The Federalists thought that the 


Troubles with the Indians. 323 

States should yield to the authority of the 
nation; the other party would have the nation 
subordinate to the States. 

Washington’s calmness and moderation led him 
to sympathize with the Federalists, but he had 
a high opinion of Jefferson’s talents, and his 
counsels were always received with great defer¬ 
ence. 

As some modern statesman has written of 
Washington : 

“ He gathered around him the greatest public 
men of that day, and some of them to be 
ranked with the greatest of any day. 

“ He did not leave Jefferson and Hamilton with¬ 
out the Cabinet, to shake, perhaps, the whole 
fabric of government in their fierce wars and 
rivalries, but he took them within, where he 
himself might settle their disputes as they arose, 
and turn to the best account for the country, 
their suggestions as they were made.” 

The Indians at this time were becoming very 
troublesome on the frontier; and it is interesting 
after this “ century of dishonor ” to notice Wash¬ 
ington’s policy towards them. 

The Seneca tribe was friendly towards the 


324 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

colonists, and three of their chiefs, Cornplanter, 
Halftown and Great Tree, who had come to the 
seat of government on business of their own 
nation, offered to visit the hostile tribes and 
persuade them to bury the hatchet. 

Washington encouraged them in this under¬ 
taking. 

“ By this humane measure,” said he, “ you 
will render these mistaken people a great ser¬ 
vice, and probably prevent their being swept 
off of the face of the earth. The United States 
requires only that these people should demean 
themselves peaceably. But they may be assured 
that the United States are able and will most 
certainly punish them severely for all their 
robberies and murders.” 

Washington was always desirous of civilizing 
the savages, but he did not think that this 
could be brought about, as some proposed, by 
sending their young men to our colleges. 

“ When you return to your country,” he said 
to the Seneca chiefs, “tell your nation that it 
is my desire to promote their prosperity by teach¬ 
ing them the use of domestic animals, and the 
manner that the white people plough and raise 


Troubles with the Indians. 


325 


so much corn; and if, upon consideration, it 
would be agreeable to the nation at large to 
learn those arts, I will find some means of teach¬ 
ing them at some places within their country 
as shall be agreed upon.” 

The strictest justice and equity Washington 
always showed* in his own dealings with the In¬ 
dians ; he tried to convince them that such was 
the general policy of our government, but then 
as now, land speculators, lawless border ruffians, 
and unprincipled agents kept the Indians in a 
constant state of excitement. When pacific mea¬ 
sures failed to quell these rebellions, he felt 
compelled to resort to war, as policy, humanity 
and justice demanded. 

As the Indians on the northwest side of the 
Ohio still continued their hostilities, General St. 
Clair with about two thousand regulars, and 
one thousand militia, was sent out against 
them. 

Tidings of the sad result of this expedition 
were received by Washington at Philadelphia, 
towards the close of a bleak winter’s day. He 
was at dinner with a number of guests, but the 
officer who had brought the message declared 


326 Young Folks Life of Washington . 

that he must see the President in person. 

Washington rose from the table, and when he 
returned, one of the company heard him say to 
himself, in a tone of suppressed excitement, “ I 
knew it would be so ! ” 

It was the evening of Mrs. Washington’s re¬ 
ception, and the President received the guests 
with his usual courtesy and serenity of manner. 
But after the company had gone, and Mrs. 
Washington had retired to her room, the Pres¬ 
ident broke out suddenly to his private secre¬ 
tary: 

“ It’s all over ! St. Clair’s defeated — routed ! 
the officers nearly all killed, the rout complete; 
too shocking to think of, and a surprise into 
the bargain! ” 

Pausing and rising from the sofa, he walked 
up and down the room in silence. When near 
the door he stopped short and exclaimed: 

“Yes! here, on this very spot, I took leave 
of him; I wished him success and honor. ‘ You 
have your instructions from the Secretary of 
War,’ said I. ‘I had a strict eye to them, and 
will add but one word, beware of a surprise! 
You know how the Indians fight us. I repeat 



WASHINGTON HEADING A DESPATCH 































































































































































































































































































































































































































» . 




' ,1 • 


























f 























‘ 



















Troubles with the Indians. 


329 


it, BEWARE OF A surprise.’ He went off with 
that, my last warning, thrown into his ears. 
And yet!! To suffer that army to be cut to 
pieces, hacked, butchered, tomahawked by a sur¬ 
prise — the very thing I guarded him against — 
O God! O God!” 

Then, as if suddenly recollecting himself, he 
said in a calmer voice: 

“ But General St. Clair shall have justice; 
I looked hastily through the despatches, saw the 
whole disaster, but not all the particulars. I 
will receive him without displeasure; I will 
hear him without prejudice; he shall have full 
justice.” 

At General St. Clair’s own desire, a court of 
inquiry was appointed to investigate his conduct 
in this unfortunate expedition. It appeared that 
St. Clair, now quite an old man, was so ill 
when the attack was made that he was unable 
to mount his horse. He insisted, however, on 
being carried about upon a litter, and with great 
coolness and bravery in the midst of peril, he 
gave his orders with excellent judgment and 
remarkable self-possession. 

Washington was entirely satisfied with the 


33 ° Young Folks Life of Washington. 


explanations given, and continued to honor St. 
Clair with his confidence and friendship, although 
public sentiment was against him for a long 
time. 


F1KEPLACE, WASHINGTON’S JROOM. 














































































CHAPTER XXX. 


EXTRACTS FROM DIARY — WASHINGTON RE¬ 
ELECTED TO SECOND TERM. 

I N the summer of 1791 Washington took a 
journey to North Carolina. His diary at 
this time contains the following interesting 
records : 

“ Thursday, June 2d, 1791: — In company with 
the Governor, I set out by four o’clock for 
Guilford. Breakfasted at one Dobson’s, at 
the distance of eleven miles from Salem, and 
dined at Guilford, sixteen miles farther, where 
there was a considerable gathering of people 
who had received notice of my intention to 
be there to-day, and came to satisfy their 
curiosity. 

“ On my way I examined the ground on 
which the action between General Green and 
Lord Cornwallis commenced, and after dinner 


332 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

rode over that where their lines were formed, and 
the score closed in the retreat of the American 
forces, which was advantageously drawn up, 
and had the troops done their duty properly, 
the British must have been sorely galled in 
the advance, if not defeated. 

“ The lands between Solon and Guilford are 

in places very fine.On my approach 

to this place (Guilford) I was met by a party 
of lighthorse which I prevailed upon the Gov¬ 
ernor to dismiss, and countermand his order for 
others to attend me through the States.” 

“ Friday , June 3d : — Took my leave of the 
Governor, whose intention was to have attended 
me to the line, but for my request that he 
would not; and about four o’clock proceeded 

on my journey.In conversing with 

the Governor on the state of politics in North 
Carolina, I learned with pleasure that, oppo¬ 
sition to the general government, and the dis¬ 
content of the people, were subsiding fast, and 
that he should, as soon as he received the 
laws which he had written to the Secretary 
of State for, issue his proclamation requiring 
all officers and members of the Government to 


Washington Re-elected to Second Term. 333 

take the oaths prescribed by law. He seems 
to condemn the speculators in lands, and the 
purchases from the State of Georgia, and 
thinks as every sensible and disinterested man 
must, that schemes of that sort must involve 
the country in trouble — perhaps in blood.” 

44 Saturday , June 4th : .In the 

upper part of North Carolina, wheat is pretty 
much grown, and the farmers seem disposed 
to try hemp, but the hand carriage is a con¬ 
siderable drawback, having between two and 
three hundred miles to carry their produce, 
either to the town of Petersburgh, or Wil¬ 
mington, which are their great marts, though 
of late, Fayetteville received a good deal of 
the bulky articles, and they are water bound 
from thence to Wilmington. 

“Excepting the towns (and some gentlemen’s 
seats along the road from Charleston to 
Savannah) there is not within view of the 
whole road I travelled, from Petersburgh to 
this place, a single house which has anything 
of an elegant appearance. They are altogether 
of wood, and chiefly of logs — some indeed have 
brick chimneys, but generally the chimneys 


334 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

are of split sticks filled with dirt between 
them. 

44 The manners of the people, as far as my 
observation and means of information extended, 
were orderly and civil, and they appeared to 
be happy, contented and satisfied with the 
general government under, which they are 
placed. Where the case was otherwise, it was 
not difficult to trace the cause to some dema¬ 
gogue or speculative character.” 

On his journey home Washington is enter¬ 
tained by one Colonel Isaac Cate, and with 
characteristic thoughtfulness he 44 leaves the 
servant and horses at the Ferry Tavern, that 
they might give no trouble, or be inconvenient 
to a private family.” 

He reaches home on the twelfth day of 
June, and July 3d he makes the following 
record in his diary: 

“Received and answered address from inhab 
itants of Yorktown. There being no Episcopal 
minister present in the place, I went to hear 
morning service performed in the Dutch 
Reformed Church, which being in that lan¬ 
guage, not a word of which 1 understood, I 


Washington Re-elected to Second Term. 335 

was in no danger of becoming a proselyte to 
its religion by the eloquence of the preacher.” 

The yellow fever having made great ravages 
in Philadelphia during the year of 1793, 
Washington, in a private letter to Bishop 
White, writes as follows: 

“Philadelphia, Dec. 31, 1793. 

“ Dear Sir : — It has been my intention 
ever since my return to the city, to contribute 
my mite towards the relief of the most needy 
inhabitants of it. The pressure of public 
business hitherto has suspended, but not 
altered my resolution. I am at a loss, how¬ 
ever, for whose benefit to apply the little I 
can give, and into whose hands to place it: 
whether for the use of the fatherless children 
and widows (made so by the late calamity), 
who may find it difficult whilst provisions, 
wood, and other necessaries are so dear, to 
support themselves, or to other and better 
purposes (if any), I know not; and there¬ 
fore have taken the liberty of asking your 
advice. 

“I persuade myself justice will be done my 


336 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

motives for giving you this trouble. To obtain 
information, and to render the little I can 
afford without ostentation or mention of my 
name, are the sole objects of these inquiries. 

“ With great and sincere esteem and regard, 
I am, dear sir, 

“Your most obed’t and affect, serv’t, 

“George Washington.” 

Washington’s first term of office was now 
drawing to a close, and he was looking eagerly 
forward to his return to Mount Vernon. 

The constant discords in the Cabinet between 
Hamilton and Jefferson, the lack of union 
among the States, the frontier troubles, and a 
thousand and one petty annoyances, made the 
Presidential office at this time a most uncom¬ 
fortable “ bed of thorns.” 

But the people would have no one but Wash¬ 
ington. He was unanimously elected for a sec¬ 
ond term, and much against his inclination, he 
finally accepted. 

It was an eventful period in the history of 
the world. Louis XVI. had just been be¬ 
headed, and early in April the news was 


Washington Re-elected to Second Term . 337 

received that France had declared war against 
England. 

Lafayette, who had tried to check the hor- 
^ rible excesses of the Revolution, had been taken 
prisoner by the Jacobins ; and his son, George 
Washington Lafayette, had resolved to seek a 
refuge in America. 

The question very naturally arose whether 
the United States would side with France, her 
old ally, in a war with England? 

Washington advised neutrality. He knew it 
was our true policy to keep aloof from any 
European war. Besides, how could he sympa¬ 
thize with the fearful atrocities that France in 
the sacred name of “ Liberty ” was every day 
committing ? 

The popular feeling of the day, however, 
was readily seen when Genet, the French min¬ 
ister to the United States, landed at Philadel¬ 
phia. Before he had presented his credentials 
and been acknowledged by the President, he 
was invited to a grand republican dinner, 
at which the company united in singing the 
Marseilles Hymn. A deputation of French 
sailors presented themselves, and were received 


338 Young Folks Life of Washington. 


by the guests with the “ fraternal embrace.’" 
The table was decorated with the 4 tree of 
liberty;’ and a red cap, called the cap of 
liberty, was placed on the head of the minis¬ 
ter, and from his travelled in succession from 
head to head around the table. 

Jefferson at first favored this enthusiasm, but 
Hamilton declared that it might “ do us much 
harm, and could do France no good.” 

It was not long before Genet began to take 
advantage of these outbursts of enthusiasm 
from the people. He was so insolent in his 
demands that even Jefferson, with all his strong 
partiality towards France, felt it his duty to 
give him a severe rebuke. 

Toward the latter part of the year (1793), 
Jefferson retired from office. He had been so 
true to the interests of his country, notwith¬ 
standing his radical tendencies and contests 
with Hamilton, that Washington was very sorry 
to lose him from the Cabinet. 

They were the best of friends, though often 
differing in opinion, and it is in these words 
that Jefferson sums up the character of Wash¬ 
ington : 


Washington Re-elected to Second Term. 339 

“ His integrity was most pure; his justice 
the most inflexible I have ever known. He 
was, indeed, in every sense of the word, a 
wise, a good, and a great man.” 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

CHANGES IN THE CABINET — WASHINGTON RE¬ 
FUSES A third' RE-ELECTION. 

I T was no easy matter to steer the Ship of 
State through the stormy seas that fol¬ 
lowed. America still kept her neutral position, 
but all Europe was in a state of turmoil, and 
France and England made constant demands 
on the new republic. 

James Monroe had succeeded Governor 
Morris as minister to France, and Fanchet had 
taken the place of the now unpopular Genet. 

Early in the year 1T95, Hamilton resigned 
his position of Secretary of the Treasury, and 
Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut, was appointed 
in his place. 

Under the name of Motier , George Wash¬ 
ington Lafayette had arrived at Boston with 
his tutor, M. Frestel. Washington longed to 
340 


Changes in the Cabinet. 


341 


receive him at once into his own household, 
for he had resolved at all hazards to become 
* father, friend, protector, and supporter,” to the 
son of his beloved Lafayette. 

But in order not to place the young man 
himself in danger, or the mother and friends 
he had left behind, Washington, as President 
of the United States, was obliged to proceed 
with great caution. 

It would not be safe for him to reside at 
present in Philadelphia, so it was decided that 
he should enter the University in Cambridge 
as a student, where Washington insisted upon 
paying all the expenses of himself and tutor. 

Afterwards it was thought best that the 
young marquis should proceed to New York, 
and stay quietly at the country-house of a 
friend until political affairs could be satisfac¬ 
torily adjusted. 

When the time drew near for another Presi¬ 
dential election, Washington’s name was pro¬ 
posed for a third term, but to this he would 
not consent. He had fully made up his mind 
to retire from public life, and it was impos¬ 
sible to change his decision. 


34 2 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

His Farewell Address was published in a 
Philadelphia paper called the Daily Advertiser , 
arid caused a great excitement throughout the 
country. 

“When General Washington delivered this 
Farewell Address ,’’ 1 wrote an eyewitness to 
her grandson, “ I sat immediately in front of 
him. It was in the room the Congress occu¬ 
pied at the southeast corner of Chestnut and 
Sixth streets. The table of the speaker was 
between the two windows on Sixth street. 

The daughter of Dr. C-, of Alexandria, 

the physician and intimate friend of Washing¬ 
ton, Mrs. H-, whose husband was the audi¬ 

tor, was a very dear friend of mine. Her 
brother Washington, was one of the secreta¬ 
ries of General Washington. Young Dandridge, 
a nephew of Mrs. Washington, was the other. 
I was included in Mrs. H——’s party to wit¬ 
ness the august, the solemn scene. There was 
a narrow passage from the door of entrance to 
the room, which was on the east, dividing 
the rows of benches. General Washington 
stopped at the end to let Mr. Adams pass to 
the chair. The latter always wore a full suit 





Changes in the Cabinet. 


343 


of bright drab, with slash, or rather loose cuffs. 
He also wore wrist ruffles. He had not 
changed his fashions. He was a short man, 
with a good head. With his family he at¬ 
tended our church twice a day. 

“General Washington’s dress was a full suit 
of black. His military hat had the black 
cockade. There stood the Father of his Coun¬ 
try, acknowledged by nations 4 the first in war, 
first in peace, first in the hearts of his coun¬ 
trymen.’ No marshals with gold-colored scarfs ; 
no cheering. The most profound stillness greeted 
him, as if that great assembly desired to hear 
him breathe, and catch his breath — the homage 
of the heart. Mr. Adams covered his face with 
both his hands. The sleeve of his coat and 
his hands were covered with tears. Every 
now and then there was a suppressed sob. I 
cannot describe Washington’s appearance as I 
felt it — perfectly composed and self-possessed 
till the close of his address. Then, when strong 
men’s sobs broke loose, when tears covered their 
faces, then the great man was shaken. I never 
took my eyes from his face. Large drops came 
from his eyes. He looked to the grateful chil- 


Young Folks' Life of Washington. 


dren who were parting with their father, their 
friend, as if his heart was with them and would 
be to the end.” 

On the fifth day of December, the first day 
of the session after the publication of this ad¬ 
dress, Congress formed a quorum, and on the 
seventh Washington met the two houses of 
Congress for the last time. 

Sincere gratitude and admiration for their 
President, and deep regret for his intended retire¬ 
ment, were expressed in the reply of the 
House. 

“ May you long enjoy that liberty which is 
so dear to you,” were the concluding words; 
“ may your own virtue and a nation’s prayers 
obtain the happiest sunshine for the decline of 
your days, and the choicest of future blessings. 
For our country’s sake, and for the sake of 
republican liberty, it is our earnest wish that 
3^our example may be the guide of your suc¬ 
cessors ; and thus, after being the ornament 
and safeguard of the present age, become the 
patrimony of our descendants.” 

When the votes of the next electoral college 
were opened and counted in Congress, John 


Changes in the Cabinet. 


345 


Adams was found to have the highest number, 
and was therefore declared President. Thomas 
Jefferson, having the next number, was pro¬ 
claimed Vice-President. 

On the fourth of March, 1797, a great crowd 
gathered about Congress Hall. It was not so 
much to see and welcome the new President, 
as to bid farewell to the old. 

The heartfelt emotion of the multitude as 
he passed through the street so affected Wash¬ 
ington that he could only wave his hat and 
express by gestures his farewell blessing. 

An entertainment was given to him in the 
evening by the citizens of Philadelphia in the 
Amphitheatre, at which all the heads of the 
departments, the foreign ministers, and various 
persons of note were present. 



Washington returns to mount vernon. 


I T was with a heartfelt sense of relief that 
Washington left the seat of government 
and entered once more upon the quiet home 
life at Mount Vernon. 

“ To make and sell a little flour annually,” 
he writes to a friend, “ to repair houses (going 
fast to ruin), to build one for the security of 
my papers of a public nature, and to amuse 
myself in agricultural and rural pursuits, will 
constitute employment for the few years I have 
to remain on this terrestrial globe. If, also, I 
could now and then meet the friends I esteem, 
it would fill the measure and add zest to my 
enjoyments; but, if ever this happens, it must 
be under my own vine and fig-tree, as I do 
not think it probable that I shall go twenty 
miles from them.” 


Washington returns to Mount Vernon. 347 

G. W. P. Custis, in his Recollections , thus 
describes Washington on his farm : 

“One day a young friend and myself were 
accosted while hunting, by an elderly stranger 
who inquired whether the General was to be 
found at the mansion house, or whether he 
had gone to visit his estate. 

“We replied that he was abroad, and gave 
directions as to the route the stranger was to 
pursue, observing, at the same time : 

“ 4 You will meet, sir, with an old gentleman 
riding alone, in plain drab clothes, a broad- 
brimmed white hat, a hickory switch in his 
hand, and carrying an umbrella with a long 
staff, which is attached to his saddle-bow ; that 
person, sir, is General Washington ! 1 

“ The stranger, much amused at our descrip¬ 
tion, observed with a good-humored smile: 

“ 4 Thank ye, thank ye, young gentleman; I 
think if I fall in with the General I shall be 
apt to know* him.’ 

“At dinner we had the pleasure of being 
introduced to Colonel Meade, who had been 
aid-de-camp to the commander-in-chief in the 
war of the Revolution.” 


348 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

The mansion at Mount Vernon and all the 
adjacent buildings, were found to be much out 
of repair. 

“1 find myself,” writes Washington, “in the 
situation nearly of a new beginner; for although 
I have not houses to build (except one which 
I must erect for the accommodation and secu¬ 
rity of my military, civil, and private papers, 
which are voluminous, and maybe interesting), 
yet I have scarcely anything else about me 
that does not require considerable repairs. In 
a word, I am already surrounded b}' joiners, 
masons and painters; and such is my anxiety 
to get out of their hands, that I have scarcely 
a room to put a friend into or to sit in my¬ 
self, without the music of hammers or the odor¬ 
iferous scent of paint.” 

Brissot, in his Travels in North America , 
writes thus of his interview with Washington 
at Mount Vernon: 

“ The General’s goodness beams in his eyes. 
They have no longer that fire which his 
officers found in them when at the head of 
his army; but they brighten in conversation. 
In his countenance there are no striking 


CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON 



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Washington returns to Mount Vernon. 351 

features; hence it is difficult to catch a like¬ 
ness of him, for few of his portraits resemble 
him. All his answers discover good sense, 
consummate prudence, and great diffidence of 
himself; but at the same time an unalterable 
firmness in the part he has once embraced. 
His modesty cannot but be particularly aston¬ 
ishing to a Frenchman. He speaks of the 
American war as if he had not been the con¬ 
ductor of it; and of his victories with an 
indifference with which no stranger could men¬ 
tion them. I never saw him grow warm, or 
depart from that coolness which characterizes 

him, except when talking on die present state 

of America. The divisions of his country rend 

his soul.” 

The engraving seen on the opening page is 
taken from Stuart’s portrait of Washington 
presented to the Boston Athenaeum by tho 

“ Washington Association.” The daughter of 
the artist gives the foil owing interesting cir 
cumstances connected with the painting of thin 
portrait: 

“It was at my father’*, country home in 
Germantown, that Washington sat for this 


352 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

portrait. After touching upon various subjects, 
the conversation turned one day upon horses, 
a subject on which the artist was perfectly 
at home. This roused the General, giving my 
father a great advantage in seizing his ex¬ 
pression. At another time, a little brother of 
mine ran into the room, and my father think¬ 
ing it would annoy the General, told him he 
must leave; but Washington took him upon 
his knee, held him some time, and had quite 
a little chat with him. My brother remem¬ 
bered with pride, as long as he lived, that 
Washington had actually talked to him. 

“ While talking one day to General Henry 
Lee, my father happened to remark that 
Washington had a tremendous temper, but 
held it under wonderful control. General Lee 
breakfasted with the President and Mrs. Wash¬ 
ington a few days afterward. 

“ ‘ I saw your portrait the other day — a 
capital likeness,’ said Lee, 4 but Stuart says 

* you have a tremendous temper.’ 

‘“Upon my word,’ said Mrs. Washington 
coloring, ‘Mr. Stuart takes a great deal upon 
himself to make such a remark.’ 


Washington returns to Mount Vernon. 353 

“ 4 But stay, ray dear lady,’ said General 
Lee; ‘he added that the President had it 
under wonderful control.’ 

“ With something like a smile, General 
Washington remarked, ‘He is right.’” 

The entertainment of numerous strangers 
that flock to Mount Vernon, begins to grow 
a little wearisome to Washington. 

To his favorite nephew, Lawrence Lewis, he 
writes: “As both your aunt and I are in the 
decline of life, and regular in our habits, 
especially in our hours of rising and going to 
bed, I require some person (fit and proper) 
to ease me of the trouble of entertaining 
company, particularly of nights, as it is my 
inclination to retire (and unless prevented by 
very particular company, I always do retire) 
either to bed or to my study soon after 
candlelight. In taking those duties (which 
hospitality obliges one to bestow on company) 
off my hands, it would render me a very 
acceptable service.” 

Lawrence at once complied with his uncle’s 
request, and became an inmate of the pleasant 
household at Mount Vernon. 


354 Young Folks' Life of Washington . 


George Washington Lafayette and his tutor, 
M. Frebtel, were also added to the family party. 

Washington’s adopted son, G. W. Parke Cus- 
tis, was then about seventeen years of age, 
and a close friendship immediately sprang up 
between him and young Lafayette. 

The following letters written by Washington 
to his adopted son, while a student in Prince¬ 
ton College, show the fatherly solicitude he felt 
towards the warm-hearted, impulsive boy: 

“ November 28th, 1796. 

“Dear Washington: — In a few hasty lines 
covering your sister’s letter and a comb, on 
Saturday last, I promised to write more fully 
to you by the post of this day. I am now in 
the act of performing that promise. 

“ The assurances you give me of applying 
diligently to your studies and fulfiling those 
obligations which are enjoined by your Creator 
and due to his creatures, are highly pleasing 
and satisfactory to me. I rejoice in it on two 
accounts; first, as it is the sure means of lay¬ 
ing the foundation of your own happiness, and 
rendering you, if it should please God to spare 


Washington returns to Mount Vernon. 355 

your life, a useful member of society hereafter; 
and secondly, that I may, if I live to enjoy the 
pleasure, reflect that I have been in some 
degree instrumental in effecting these purposes. 

44 You are now extending into that stage of 
life when good or bad habits are formed. 
When the mind will be turned to things useful 
and praiseworthy, or to dissipation and vice. 
Fix on whichever it may, it will stick by 
you ; for you know it has been said, and truly, 
4 That as the twig is bent, so it will grow.’ 
This, in a strong point of view, shows the pro¬ 
priety of letting your inexperience be directed 
by maturer advice, and in placing guard upon 
the avenues which lead to idleness and vice. The 
latter will approach like a thief, working upon 
your passions; encouraged, perhaps, by bad ex¬ 
amples ; the propensity to which will increase 
in proportion to the practice of it, and }^our 
yielding. This admonition proceeds from the 
purest affection for you ; but I do not mean 
by it that you are to become a stoic, or to 
deprive yourself in the intervals of study of 
any recreations or manly exercise which reason 
approves. 


356 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

“ ’Tis well to be on good terms with all your 
fellow-students, and I am pleased ,to hear you 
are so ; but while a courteous behavior is due 
to all, select the most deserving only for your 
friendships, and before this becomes intimate, 
weigh their dispositions and character well. 
True friendship is a plant of slow growth; 
to be sincere, there must be a congeniality of 
temper and pursuits. Virtue and vice cannot 
be allied; nor can idleness and industry; of 
course if you resolve to adhere to the two 
former of these extremes, an intimacy with those 
who incline to the latter of them, would be 
extremely embarrassing to you, it would be 
a stumbling block in your way, and act like 
a millstone hung to your neck; for it is the 
nature of idleness and vice to obtain as many 
votaries as they can. 

“ I would guard you, too, against imbibing hasty 
and unfavorable impressions of any one. Let 
your judgment always balance well, before you 
decide; and even then, where there is no occa¬ 
sion for expressing an opinion, it is best to 
be silent, for there is nothing more certain than 
that it is at all times more easy to make enemies 


Washington returns to Mount Vernon. 357 

than friends. And besides, to speak evil of 
any one, unless there is unequivocal proofs of 
their deserving, is an injury for which there is 
no adequate reparation. For, as Shakespeare 
says, ‘ He that robs me of my good name en¬ 
riches not himself, but renders me poor indeed,’ 
or words to that effect. Keep in mind that 
scarcely any change would be agreeable to you 
at first from the sudden transition, and from 
never having been accustomed to shift or rough 
it. And, moreover, that if you meet with col¬ 
legiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain. My 
paper reminds me it is time to conclude. 

“ Affectionately, your sincere friend, 

“G. Washington. 

“P. S. — I presume you received my letter 
covering a ten-dollar bill to pay for your gown, 
although it is not mentioned. To acknowledge 
the receipt of letters is always proper, to remove 
doubts of their miscarriage.” 

Philadelphia, Dec. 19th, 1796. 

“ Dear Washington: — I am not certain 
whether I have written to you since the receipt 


358 Young Folks' Life of Washington. 

of your letter of the first instant, for, as my 
private letters are generally despatched in a 
hurry, and copies not often taken, I have noth¬ 
ing to resort to to refresh my memory; be 
this, however, as it may, we are always glad to 
hear from you, though we do not wish that 
letter-writing should interfere with your more 
useful and profitable occupations. The pleasure 
of hearing you were well, in good spirits, and 
progressing as we could wish in your studies, 
was communicated by your letter of the four¬ 
teenth instant to your grandmamma ; but what 
gave me particular satisfaction, was to find 
that you were going to commence, or had com¬ 
menced, a course of reading with Doctor Smith, 
of such books as he had chosen for the pur¬ 
pose. The first is very desirable, the other in¬ 
dispensable ; for, besides the duty enjoined upon 
you by the instructions of your preceptors, 
whilst your own judgment is locked up in ma¬ 
turity, you now have a peculiar advantage in 
the attentions of Doctor Smith to you, who, 
being a man of learning and taste himself, will 
select such authors and subjects as will lay 
the foundation of useful knowledge; let me 


Washington returns to Mount Vernon. 359 

impress upon you, therefore, again and again, 
not only to yield implicit obedience to his 
choice and instructions in this respect, but to 
the course of studies also, and that you would 
pursue both with zeal and steadiness. Light 
reading (by this I mean books of little import¬ 
ance) may amuse for the moment, but leaves 
nothing solid behind. 

“ The same consequences would follow from 
inconstancy and want of steadiness — for ’tis to 
close application and constant perseverance, men 
of letters and science are indebted for their 
knowledge and usefulness; and you are now 
at that period of life (as I have observed to 
you in a former letter) when these are to be 
acquired, or lost forever. But as you are well 
acquainted with my sentiments on this subject, 
and know how anxious all your friends are to 
see you enter upon the grand theatre of life, 
with the advantages of a finished education, a 
highly cultivated mind, and a proper sense of 
your duties to God and man, I shall only add 
one sentiment more before I close this letter 
(which, as I have others to write, will hardly 
be in time for the mail), and that is, to pay 


360 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

due respect and obedience to your tutors, and 
affectionate reverence to the president of the 
college, whose character merits your highest 
regards. Let no bad example, for such is to 
be met in all seminaries, have an improper 
influence upon your conduct. Let this be such, 
and let it be your pride to demean yourself 
in such a manner as to obtain the good will of 
your superiors, and the love of your fellow- 
students. 

“ Adieu — I sincerely wish you well, being 
your attached and affectionate friend, 

“ G. Washington. 

“ To Mr. G-eo. Washington CustisF 

Nelly Custis, the sister of the young student, 
was a bright, blooming girl, 

Standing with reluctant feet 
Where the brook and river meet 
Womanhood and childhood fleet. 

“ I was young and romantic then,” she writes 
in after life, and fond of wandering alone by 
moonlight in the woods of Mount Vernon. 
Grandmamma thought it wrong and unsafe, and 


Washington returns to Mount Vernon. 361 

scolded and coaxed me into a promise that I 
would not wander again unaccompanied . But 
I was missing one evening, and was brought 
home from the interdicted woods to the drawing¬ 
room, where the General was walking up and 
down with his hands behind him, as was his 
wont. Grandmamma seated in her great arm¬ 
chair, opened a severe reproof. 

“I knew I had done wrong, acknowledged 
it, and did not try to excuse myself. 

“As I was leaving the room, I overheard 
the General in a low voice interceding for me. 

4 My dear,’ said he, ‘ I would say no more; 
perhaps she was not alone.’ 

“Coming back, I went up to the General 
and said, 4 Sir, you brought me up to speak 
the truth, and when I told grandmamma I was 
alone, I hope you believed I was alone' 

44 The General turned toward me and made 
one of his most magnanimous bows. 4 My child,’ 
replied he, 4 1 beg your pardon.’” 

It was not long after this that Miss Nelly 
became engaged to Lawrence Lewis, an event 
which greatly delighted Washington. 

In the autumn letters were received from 


362 Yomig Folks' Life of Washington . 

Hamburg, announcing the release of Lafayette 
and his family from Olmutz, where they had 
been imprisoned. George was so anxious to 
see his parents and sisters that he wanted to 
sail at once for France, and “I could not with¬ 
hold my assent,” writes Washington, “to the 
gratification of his wishes to fly to the arms 
of those whom he holds most dear.” 

He sailed with his tutor, M. Frestel, from 
New York, on the twenty-sixth of October, but 
it was not until the next February that the 
whole family were united. 

On the twenty-second of February, 1799 , Miss 
Nelly Custis was married at Mount Yernon, to 
Washington’s nephew, Lawrence Lewis. 

He had just received the commission of major 
of cavalry in the new army which was forming in 
anticipation of a war with France, and Washington 
had made arrangements for their home on a part 
of the Mount Vernon lands. 


WASHINGTON'S TOMB — MT. VEIiNON. 


























































































































































































CHAPTER XXXIII. 


LAST DAYS OF WASHINGTON — HIS DEATH AND 
BURIAL. 


ASHINGTON was now in his sixty- 



V V eighth year, but so full of life and 

vigor that he seemed a much younger man. 
“When I parted from him that fall ( 1799 ),” 
writes Lawrence Lewis, “ he stood on the steps 
of the front door, where he took leave of my¬ 
self and another. It was a bright frosty morn¬ 
ing', he had taken his usual ride, and the 

clear, healthy flush on his cheek, and his 

sprightly manner, brought the remark from 
both of us that we had never seen the Gen¬ 
eral look so well. I have sometimes thought 
him decidedly the handsomest man I ever saw; 
and when in a lively mood, so full of pleas¬ 
antry, so agreeable to all with whom he 

associated, that I could hardly realize he was 


366 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

the same Washington whose' dignity awed all 
who approached him.” 

An English contemporary journal describes 
the personal appearance of Washington as 
follows: 

“ In height he is about five feet eleven; 
his chest is full; and his limbs, though 
rather slender, are well-shaped and muscular. 
His head is small, in which respect he 
resembles the make of a great number of his 
countrymen. His eyes are of a light-blue 
color; and, in proportion to the length of his 
face, his nose is long. Mr. Stuart, the emi- 
inent portrait painter, used to say there were 
features in his face totally different from what 
he had observed in that of any other human 
being •, the sockets for his eyes, for instance, 
were larger than what he ever met with 
before, and the upper part of his nose broader. 
All his features, he observed, were indicative 
of the strongest passions; yet, like Socrates, 
his judgment and great self-command have 
always made him appear a man of a different 
cast in the eyes of the world.” 

In July of that year, 1799 , Washington had 


His Death and Burial. 


367 


executed his last will and testament. This 
lengthy document was written entirely by him¬ 
self, and at the bottom of each page of manu¬ 
script, he signed his name. 

Although Washington seemed in his usual 
health, he remarked one day to a friend, “ I 
am of a short-lived family, and cannot expect 
to remain very long upon the earth.” 

To Lawrence Lewis he pointed out the spot 
where he intended to build a new famity 
vault. “I shall make this change first of all,” 
he said, “ for I may require it before the rest.” 

During the autumn of 1799, he wrote out, 
•as if he were about to take a long journey, 
a complete system of management for his estate 
for several succeeding years, with numerous 
tables designating the rotation of crops. 

As a specimen of his clear, concise style of 
writing, the following letter, dated only twelve 
days before his death, will be read with 
interest: 


“Mount Vernon, 2d Dec., 1799. 

“ Sir : — I have been duly favored with your 
letter of the 25 th ult., enclosing a copy of 


368 Young Folks Life of Washington. 

the survey made for William Shepherd, for 
four and three quarter acres, and the form of 
a cavetto against the issuing a patent there¬ 
for. 

“ I cannot from the survey discover with 
precision where this land lays, and therefore 
shall give no further opposition to the grant 
of it. If it be where I suspect, it is within 
the bounds of a patent under which I hold, 
of more than sixty years’ standing — of course, 
cannot effect it. 

“I am sorry that I have given you so 
much trouble in this business, at the same 
time that I feel obliged by the prompt and 
ready advice you have been so kind as to 
give me for the prosecution of it. From what 
I had heard of Shepherd’s survey, I conceived 
differently of its object. 

“ I am, sir, your obed., h’ble ser., 

“G. Washington. 

“ William Price , Esq.” 

On the morning of the twelfth of December, 
(1799), Washington mounted his horse as 
usual about ten o’clock, and rode out to give 


His Death and Burial ’ 369 

his orders for the day. About noon it began to 
snow, and the storm soon changed to one of 
hail and rain, but Washington continued his 
ride as usual until the middle of the afternoon. 
When he came back to the house, Mr. Lear, 
his private secretary, noticed the wet snow 
that clung to Washington’s hair about his 

neck, and expressed a fear that he might 

have taken cold. 

“Oh, no, I think not!” replied Washington; 
“my great coat has kept me dry.” 

After franking some letters, and observing 
that the storm was too severe to send a ser¬ 
vant to the post-office, he sat down to 

dinner without changing his wet garments. 

The next morning the snow was three 
inches deep, and was still falling. As Wash¬ 
ington had a slight sore throat, and the storm 
continued, he did not take his usual ride that 
morning about the farm. In the afternoon the 
weather cleared, and the General went out on 
the grounds between the house and river, to 
mark some trees that were to be cut down. 

In the evening his hoarseness increased, but 
he seemed in excellent spirits, and as the papers 


370 Young Folks' Life of Washington . 

came from the post-office, he would read aloud 
to Mrs. Washington and Mr. Lear whatever he 
found especially interesting. 

When he retired for the night, Mr. Lear 
urged him to take something for his cold. 

“Oh, no!” was the reply, “you know I never 
take anything for a cold. Let it go as it 
came.” 

In his diary that evening Washington makes 
his last record : 

“Dec. 13 th:—Morning snowing, and about 
three inches deep. Wind at northeast and ther¬ 
mometer at thirty degrees. Snowing till one 
o’clock, and about two it became perfectly 
clear — wind in the same place, but not hard. 
Thermometer twenty-eight degrees at night.” 

These were probably the last written words 
of Washington. About midnight he was taken 
very ill with ague and difficulty of breathing. 
At daybreak a physician was sent for and 
various remedies tried, but all without avail. 

All through the day he suffered great pain. 

“About half-past four o’clock,” writes Mr. 
Lear, “he desired me to call Mrs. Washington 
to his bedside, when he requested her to go 


His Death and Burial. 371 

down into his room, and take from his desk 
two wills which she would find there, and 
bring them to him, which she did. Upon look¬ 
ing at them, he gave her one, which he ob¬ 
served was useless, as being superseded by the 
other, and desired her to burn it, which she 
did, and took the other and put it into her 
closet. 

“After this was done, I returned to his bed¬ 
side and took his hand. He said to me: ‘I 
find I am going. My breath cannot last long. 
I believed from the first that the disorder 
would prove fatal. Do you arrange and record 
all my late military letters and papers. Ar¬ 
range my accounts and settle my books, as you 
know more about them than any one else, 
and let Mr. Rawlins finish recording my other 
letters which he has begun.’ 

“ I told him this should be done. He then 
asked if I recollected anything which it was 
essential for him to do, as he had but a very 
short time to continue with us. I. told him 
that I could recollect nothing, but that I 
hoped he was not so near his end. He ob¬ 
served, smiling, that he certainly was, and that 


372 Young Folks Life of Washington . 

as it was a debt we must all pay, he looked 
to the event with perfect resignation. 1 ’ 

“ I am afraid I shall fatigue you too much,” 
he said to the friends about his bedside that 
were endeavoring to relieve his pain. “ I pray 
you take no more trouble about me. I can¬ 
not last long.” 

Noticing that his old black servant Christo- 
phei had been standing a long time, he raised 
his finger feebly and motioned him to sit down. 

About ten o’clock in the evening he tried 
several times to speak, but was unable to do 
so. At length he murmured, “ ’Tis well — ’tis 
well,” and these were the last words of our 
noble Washington. 

A few moments after he passed away as 
quietly as a little child going to sleep. 

“Is he gone?” said Mrs. Washington in a 
voice choked with sobs. 

“I could not speak,” said Mr. Lear, “but 
held up my hand as a signal that he was no 
more.” 

“’Tis well,” she answered in the same voice. 
“ I shall soon follow him. I have no more trials 
to pass through.” 


.DEATH OF WASHINGTON 



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His Death and Burial. 


375 


The funeral took place on the eighteenth of 
December. The services were simple, and free 
from all pomp, as Washington himself had 
desired. 

The Episcopal clergyman of Alexandria, the 
Rev. Mr. Davis, conducted the funeral cere¬ 
monies. The body was borne to the family 
vault by the Free Masons — the militia of Al¬ 
exandria, horse and foot, forming the escort. 
Then came four of the clergy, and the Gen¬ 
eral’s horse, led by two grooms in black, with 
his saddle, holsters and pistols, just preceded 
the bier. Members of the family followed with 
the attendant physician and the corporation of 
Alexandria. 

When the solemn procession reached the 
old family vault, the cavalry halted while the 
infantry moved forward and formed a hollow 
square. The Masons and citizens then 
descended to the vault where the Rev. Mr. 
Davis read the burial service and delivered a 
short address. After the Masonic ceremonies, 
the precious remains were lowered into the 
vault, and three discharges of arms were 
given by the infantry and cavalry. Eleven 



376 Young Folks Life of Washington . 

pieces of artillery which had been placed back 
of the vault, were then discharged simulta¬ 
neously, and just as the short winter’s day 
was drawing to a close, the simple, impressive 
ceremonies were concluded. 

Thirty years later the new vault was erected 
upon the spot designated by Washington, and 
the remains removed to their present resting- 
place. 

The whole country mourned Washington as 
a father. 

Congress, which was in session, immediately 
adjourned. The next morning it was resolved 
that the Speaker’s chair should be draped with 
black, and that the members and officers of the 
House should wear black during the next 
session. 

When the news of Washington’s death 
reached England, Lord Bridport, who had com¬ 
mand of a British fleet at Torbay, lowered his 
flag half-mast, and every ship followed his 
example. Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Con¬ 
sul of France, ordered that black crape should 
be suspended from all the standards and flags 
throughout the public service for ten days. 


His Death and Burial 


377 


In the eloquent words of the Senate’s address 
to President Adams: 

“ With patriotic pride we review the life of 
our Washington, and compare him with those 
of other countries who have been pre-eminent in 
fame. Ancient and modern times are diminished 
before him. Greatness and guilt have been too 
often allied; but his fame is whiter than it is 
brilliant. 

“Washington yet lives on earth in his spotless 
example ; his spirit is in heaven. 

“Let his country consecrate the memory of 
the heroic General, the patriotic Statesman, and 
the virtuous Sage. Let them teach their chil¬ 
dren never to forget that the fruit of his labors 
and his example are their inheritance.” 


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